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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24665575">Greater Evils</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiniestawoo/pseuds/tiniestawoo'>tiniestawoo</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In a meadow starred with flowers [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teen Wolf (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Come Eating, Derek Hale's Past Consent Issues with Kate Argent, Dirty Talk, Dubious Consent, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Eventual Happy Ending, F/M, Feelings Realization, Future Fic, Hints of D/s Themes, Insecure Theo Raeken, Kidnapped Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Minor Character Death, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Pack Dynamics, Sharing a Bed, Siren Stiles Stilinski, Temporary Character Death, Warning: Gerard Argent, Werewolf Theo Raeken</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 05:08:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>25,798</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24665575</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiniestawoo/pseuds/tiniestawoo</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after the conclusion of The Lesser Evil, Stiles and Theo are finally ready to leave Beacon Hills and start a life, together, somewhere else.</p><p>But, the thing about plans is... they never seem to work out <i>exactly<i> how you wanted.</i></i></p><p><i>--</i><br/> <br/>Or, the one where they just can't seem to catch a break, and bad guys really know how to ruin the moment.<br/></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Derek Hale/Lydia Martin, Scott McCall/Malia Tate, Theo Raeken/Stiles Stilinski</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>In a meadow starred with flowers [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1746553</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>131</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. The Song of Love Protects</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>HELLO FRIENDS WE ARE BACK!</p><p>We are happy to report there are no major content warnings for this first chapter. There's mentions of shit that happened in EHAN/TLE, and there's mentions of Derek's Kate-related trauma, but other than that, we're all good!</p><p>We hope everyone enjoys this. It's the final planned installment of the <i>In a meadow starred with flowers</i> series!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The clock on the wall ticked it’s familiar, monotonous rhythm. The air conditioner kicked on every now and again, trying to beat back the stagnant late-May air outside the glass doors; the humidity hung heavily and uncomfortable, like too many blankets on a bed.</p><p>Stiles, dressed in his ‘uniform’ of a standard navy blue polo and khaki pants, was seated in the mildly uncomfortable chair behind the front desk at the Beacon Hills Sheriff’s Office, as he watched the blinking colon between the 15 and 25 in the bottom right corner of the computer screen. </p><p>Five minutes. </p><p>Five minutes, and his last shift manning the front desk at the Sheriff’s Station would be over. Five minutes, and the life he’d wanted, the life he’d simultaneously planned for but never dreamed would happen, would finally be starting. </p><p>A year ago, Stiles had made the decision that he wasn’t ready to leave for college yet. Between the horror show that had been most of his senior year, and learning to cope with being a siren, Stiles was just <em> tired</em>. He hadn’t been ready to leave the relative safety of Beacon Hills, nor was he ready to deal with the unwanted attention and learn how to cope with what he was in a larger, more populated city.</p><p>So, after Lydia and Derek left for Stanford, and Scott and Malia headed to Sacramento for UC Davis and Sac State, Stiles had settled into working the boring day-time front desk shift that nobody wanted at the station, and he tried to learn what it was like to just exist as he was now. </p><p>It became obvious pretty quickly that he was <em> not </em> suited for the average desk job, but his presence in Beacon Hills acted as a convenient safeguard as the puppies learned to operate without Scott watching over their shoulders.</p><p>Other than the interrupted ritual at the Nemeton, there hadn’t been any major supernatural crises in Beacon Hills since Stiles had forced Mason to split from the Beast. In the year since Scott had left for UC Davis, there had been an occasional rogue omega, and a handful of other magical creatures sniffing around the borders. However, between a siren, a hellhound, a hunter, and two less-than-willing werewolves, nothing ominous had made it close enough to the town to actually threaten anyone, and Stiles considered that a job well done. </p><p>Things would change after Stiles and Theo left for Berkley next week. The younger half of the pack, who were now rising seniors, would have to step up and maintain the protection of the town without the pair of them. Between Liam’s brute strength, and Mason’s quick thinking, Stiles had high hopes for their puppy pack.</p><p>The pups wouldn’t be totally alone, of course. ‘Eternal Pack: Mom Melissa McCall,’ still worked her regular shifts at the hospital, and made the rooms in her home available for any wayward wolves that needed them. Peter Hale and Chris Argent had settled in Beacon HIlls, running a joint operation under the Argent Arms name that, for clientele in-the-know, offered both the weapons and knowledge to manage practically any supernatural situation. Jordan Parrish, their deputy hellhound, was being quietly groomed to take over for Noah as Sheriff once he finally decided to retire, though Stiles had been consistently informed that was still <em>years</em> away. </p><p>Theo and Stiles were heading down to the Bay Area early, to move into the apartment they were renting off campus together, and to learn the area before their lives became overrun with Stiles’ coursework in the fall and whatever it was Theo decided to do once they got there. </p><p>Theo had struggled after graduation to make any kind of solid decision about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that from a young age, Theo had been groomed to be a pawn in someone else's game, so making decisions about his own future didn’t come easily. </p><p>While Stiles had worked at the Sheriff’s Station, Theo had worked a few random short-lived jobs, but he had settled into working on the construction site near the Preserve where the old Hale House had once stood since December. He complained loudly about it to anyone who would listen, but it didn’t escape Stiles’ notice that he’d managed to keep this job longer than any of the others. He hadn’t yet mentioned what he planned to do when they got to Oakland, and Stiles hadn’t pushed. Theo clearly had money hidden away somewhere, and as long as they could afford their room and board then Stiles didn’t <em> want </em> any more say over the werewolf’s life than he already had. </p><p>As the number after the colon flashed to :29, the door opened and Stiles groaned internally. Of course right at the end of his shift someone would come in and he’d have to spend an hour explaining that no, you couldn’t file a missing person’s report for your lost dog, but he could get you the number for animal control... </p><p>Looking up, any complaints he may have wanted to voice flew out of his head as he saw the figure in the doorway, a smile blooming across his face. </p><p>Theo, dressed in worn jeans and a sweat-stained grey T-shirt, smirked at Stiles from the doorway of the station, glancing down at his bare wrist as if to check the time. He clutched a milkshake, the styrofoam cup sweating, in his other hand. </p><p>“Think you can sneak out early?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Stiles said, grinning, “A whole minute might put the Sheriff over the edge. I hear he’s a real hard-ass.” </p><p>“Good thing I brought a bribe.” Theo leaned over the desk to drop a kiss to Stiles’ temple even as he rolled his eyes at Theo’s blatant disregard for his father’s diet, and ducked into Noah’s office to deliver the shake. </p><p>“Stiles, you’re fired.” Noah called out from his office. “And if you’re not careful, I’m going to have a new favorite son.” </p><p>“Can you fire me if I technically put in my two weeks uh... two weeks ago?” After logging out of the computer, Stiles spun on the desk chair and stood up, heading over to peek into his father’s office. “Also, I’m your only son, and I don’t care how many milkshakes Theo brings you, he’s still my boyfriend, which means he cannot be your son. Because that would be <em> weird</em>. Also it would make Scott really sad.”</p><p>“You two should clearly have brought me more milkshakes and less vegetables then.” Noah gave his son a warm smile and gestured at Theo with the milkshake. “Get out of here kid, if you two are still planning to leave on Monday, you have an awful lot of packing to do between now and then.” </p><p>“Well it’s a good thing I’ve got all of this time on my hands now that I’m conveniently unemployed.” Stiles joked then froze in the doorway, his smile going sad. “Are you really gonna be okay without me?” </p><p>Noah, face somber but glowing with pride, nodded, “I’ve got Parrish, and Melissa and Argent. Hell, I’ve even got Peter Hale. The kids will still inevitably give me trouble, but I’m gonna be fine, Stiles.”</p><p>“Okay, love you, Dad.”</p><p>“I love you too, kid.” Noah settled his milkshake on his desk and went back to his report, “And don’t think you’re getting out of cooking just because you're behind schedule.”</p><p>“Wouldn’t dream of it, Mr. Stilinski.” Theo drawled, glancing from father to son before heading out, tugging Stiles out of the Sheriff’s Station one final time. </p><p>Once they were outside, Theo pulled Stiles in close by his belt loops, dragging him in for a kiss. </p><p>“Missed me today?” Stiles teased.</p><p>“You wish.” Theo replied, grinning against Stiles’ lips.</p><p>The last year had been… different than Stiles had expected. In public, and especially around the pack, Theo was his usual narcissistic, snarky self; quick to point out flaws in others’ plans and to take the glory for himself when the opportunity presented itself. But he wasn’t like that when it was just the two of them, or even sometimes around Stiles’ father. With them, Theo was still as sarcastic as ever, but there was less bite to his words, and more genuine emotions in his expression.</p><p>What had started as a convenient arrangement to appease Stiles’ need to use his thrall had become much more than anyone could have predicted. </p><p>Theo thrived under someone else’s direction, as much as he hated to admit it. Being under thrall was a release for Theo; it was the only time when his brain shut off, and the constant drain of consciously and unconsciously monitoring his behavior and the world around him would melt away. The Doctors had taught him to be vigilant, had made him into a weapon, but with Stiles, Theo could just let go, and finally breathe.</p><p>Neither of them had claimed to love the other. Theo wasn’t even really sure if he fully understood what real love was; he’d watched his own sister die, killed his parents, been raised by ‘insane scientists in space suits,’ and killed, maimed or manipulated whoever he needed to in order to survive and get his way. The only reason Theo wasn’t dead or imprisoned was because the pack had needed someone to be a sacrifice for the Siren.</p><p>Even after over a year, Stiles struggled sometimes to accept that Theo <em> chose </em> this for himself. Theo had made a conscious, voluntary decision to be Stiles’ ‘punching bag’ at the beginning of all of this. Stiles knew that in December, when Scott had come to visit for Christmas, the Alpha had told Theo that he’d proven his loyalty to the pack, and that if he didn’t want to continue whatever it was he and Stiles had, Scott would support him.</p><p>Stiles also knew that Theo had turned down that offer.</p><p>The Siren ran a hand through Theo’s sweaty hair. “<b>You better take a shower when we get home</b>.” Stiles winked, “You stink.” </p><p>“You know that’s gonna wear off before we get there, right?” Theo rolled his eyes, unlocking his truck and climbing in.</p><p>“Yeah well, the <em> eau de construction site </em>won’t.” Stiles climbed into the passenger side. “So I’ll just give the order again when we get there.” </p><p>Theo started the car with a playfully annoyed look and headed towards the Stilinski house.</p><p>--</p><p>Just as they pulled up to the house, Stiles’ phone rang. He leaned over to kiss Theo’s cheek and jumped out of the truck as he answered the call. </p><p>“Hey man, we still on for this weekend?”</p><p>Theo heard Scott’s voice through the speaker. “Yeah! Malia and I are going to head down in the morning if that’s cool. It should only take like an hour and a half. How much packing do you still have left?”</p><p>Theo smiled as Stiles leaned against the bumper, biting his lower lip, “Uh… not that much.” </p><p>Theo could hear the lie in Stiles’ heartbeat, but from afar, he knew Scott wouldn’t be able to. It didn’t matter in the long run, between Lydia, Derek, Scott, Malia and the two of them, it wouldn’t take that long to pack up the belongings he and Stiles were taking with them down to Oakland. </p><p>Theo headed inside to shower, leaving Stiles to his conversation with Scott. </p><p>The last year had been odd. Unpredictable, unexpected, and to Theo’s immense surprise, incredibly enjoyable. </p><p>He and Stiles had spent the year working and saving up money, and in their downtime, Stiles was learning proper hand-to-hand techniques from Theo and Peter Hale, and long and close-ranged weapons from his father and Chris Argent. Theo had bounced around from job to job at first, but finally settled on the construction gig he’d quit earlier that day.</p><p>Construction was far from glamorous, but it used his muscles and kept him moving, burning off energy and anxiety and frustration. It added to the sizable savings he already had stashed away, and gave Theo something to do while Stiles slowly lost his mind at the front desk of the Sheriff’s Station. </p><p>Finishing his shower, Theo poked his head into Stiles’ room to see him stripped out of his standard uniform of a polo and khakis, and was sitting cross-legged on his bed in just boxers. </p><p>He quirked an eyebrow at Theo when he entered, and shut the door behind him. “Well, you smell better.”</p><p>Theo rolled his eyes, “You can’t even smell me from there.” </p><p>Stiles licked his lips and leaned back on the bed, “<b>Come here then</b>.”</p><p>Theo stepped forward with a small, content smile and straddled Stiles’ lap, the towel he’d wrapped around his hips falling away. Stiles’ eyes immediately fell to his dick, which had quickly taken notice of the tone of Stiles’ voice and started hardening before he even reached the bed. Once the Siren’s hands met his warm skin, Stiles manipulated Theo with ease, rolling them onto the bed and quickly pinning the naked werewolf beneath him.</p><p>“How’s Scott?” Theo asked casually, as he rocked his hips up against Stiles’. </p><p>“He’s fine. Are we really talking about Scott right now?” </p><p>Stiles rolled his eyes at Theo’s attempt to distract him, and leaned down to more effectively end the conversation, slotting their mouths together in a deep kiss. As their lips moved against each others, Stiles silently ordered Theo’s hands up above his head, sadly depriving him of the chance to run his hands over the lean muscles that Stiles had been working so hard to develop over the last year. </p><p>This was how they operated now. When they were like this, in bed, Theo was putty in Stiles’ hands. He was an enthusiastic and willing participant in whatever Stiles had in mind for them. Stiles and he had discussed - at length - what Theo was and wasn’t up for, and Stiles, even in the middle of a scene, kept a close eye on Theo’s emotions.</p><p>The werewolf could keep his reactions off his face, shove them down enough to disguise his heartbeat, and had even been working on disguising his scent to throw off other wolves, but he could not hide his feelings from his siren lover, nor did he feel the need to anymore. </p><p>Stiles, underwear still on, leaned down to tip the werewolf’s head back, baring his throat in the process. He mouthed along Theo’s exposed neck, teeth nipping at the sensitive skin there, drawing a pleased rumble from the wolf. The sound made Stiles smile against his skin. </p><p>“<b>Tell me what you want</b>.” He said, biting down into the flesh of Theo’s shoulder; Theo groaned loudly at the action. </p><p>“<em>Fuck</em>.” The list of things that Theo wanted was a mile long, but he was also acutely aware of how much time they had before Noah arrived home from his shift.<br/>
<br/>
“<b>Now.</b>” Stiles urged him as he continued to mouth along the skin of his shoulder.</p><p>“Fingers.” Theo decided quickly, “I want your fingers and I wanna suck you.” </p><p>“Good boy.” Stiles said, leaning back up to recapture Theo’s lips, drawing them apart to let his tongue roam the werewolf’s mouth. Theo let out a high-pitched lupine whine as Stiles moved away and leaned over him, breaking the delicious contact between his clothed cock and Theo’s naked one, in order to grab the lube from the bedside table. The change in friction made Theo shiver and buck against Stiles, hands aching to touch, but the thrall held, keeping him pinned beneath Stiles. </p><p>As a lusty haze rolled through him, Theo didn’t question it when moments later, without him thinking much at all, his body moved, rolling him over onto his stomach and then pushing up onto his knees. His arms were folded by his head as he pressed his face down into the pillows and shifted back so his ass was in the air. </p><p>Theo didn’t mind that Stiles liked to do his positioning with silent thrall, or that he got a kick out of watching a supernatural creature with all the associated strength bend at his will. Theo was happy to let his body take orders from someone else, from someone he trusted, someone who he knew wouldn’t use him. </p><p>Theo let his eyes drift closed as he settled his weight evenly between both of his knees. He could feel the heat of Stiles at his back, one of his hands drifting between his cheeks, letting his fingers ghost over his hole just to tease him. Theo hummed happily and pressed his hips back against Stiles’ finger, chasing the feeling; the Siren laughing quietly in response. </p><p>“So impatient. <b>Just hold still</b>.”</p><p>Once Theo stopped squirming against him, Stiles finally, <em> finally </em> quit his teasing and slowly pressed a lubed finger into him, the first one slipping in easily courtesy of Theo’s recent shower. Stiles pressed featherlight kisses up and down Theo’s back, the hint of rough stubble against his skin was the only way Theo knew for sure he’d even touched him. As a second finger joined the first, Theo let out a low moan and gripped the edge of the mattress tightly; his knees shaking with the effort of holding still as Stiles began to move his fingers more firmly inside of him.</p><p>“You’re being so good for me.” Stiles murmured. </p><p>Theo preened as the praise settled over him like a warm blanket. He felt Stiles crook his fingers inside of him, stroking deliberately against his prostate. Theo groaned, and his entire body jolted involuntarily as the pleasure shot through him, hips thrusting forward and knees widening as his cock ached for any kind of friction or contact.</p><p>Stiles must have realized, because as he added a third finger, those three long broad fingers pressed deep into Theo, while his other hand reached under him and wrapped firmly around the werewolf’s dripping cock to stroke him with quick deliberate tugs. </p><p>“Do you want to come?” Stiles asked, nipping at the skin of Theo’s ass.</p><p>“<em>Please</em>.” Theo moaned, the word falling repeatedly from his lips, “<em>Please please, please, please, please</em>...” </p><p>“<b>Come</b>, then.” Stiles purred into his ear.</p><p>Theo came with a loud growl, pleasure washing over him as his hips moved roughly back and forth in uneven thrusts, torn between bearing further down on the fingers in his ass or thrusting forward into the tight grip of Stiles’ hand. As he quietly came back to himself, he noticed Stiles’ hand had caught most of his come, but only then did Theo realize that Stiles had actually pulled down the covers to protect the duvet. </p><p>Stiles gently withdrew his fingers, wiping the excess lube on one thigh and holding out his other come-covered hand to the werewolf. Theo stayed relaxed there for a moment as his brain slowly came back online after his orgasm. </p><p>“How do you want me?” Stiles asked, voice close to Theo’s ear bringing his attention back to the present.</p><p>“I wanna be on my knees.” Theo answered easily, pressing up and turning over on his still shaky arms, obediently licking his own come off Stiles’ hand, sucking the waiting fingers into his mouth with a wicked grin.</p><p>Stiles groaned, quickly pulling his fingers out of Theo’s mouth and tugging the werewolf up by his chin for a kiss, chasing the taste of Theo with his tongue. When he was content, and Theo’s lips were red and kiss-swollen but already healing, Stiles moved to sit at the edge of the bed. He slipped his boxer briefs down his legs and off to reveal his own erection, hard and shiny with beads of precome wet at the tip.</p><p>Theo slipped off the bed and dropped to his knees between Stiles’ legs. Theo’s hands gently spread Stiles’ thighs wider as he leaned in and pressed kisses along the insides of the Siren’s thighs before moving to mouth at the head of his dick, sucking the reddened tip into his mouth.</p><p>Another wave of relief and relaxation washed over him as Stiles’ hands slid gently into his hair to guide him how Stiles wanted. They were mostly clean, though Theo would inevitably have to wash his hair again to get the scent of his come out before the other wolves arrived tomorrow. </p><p>Broad, warm hands gripped the strands of Theo’s damp hair tightly, Stiles’ silent request for him to <em> go faster, </em> ringing loud and clear. Theo relaxed his jaw and took more of Stiles’ dick into his mouth, letting the head bump against the back of his throat and hollowing his cheeks. He sucked hard, before taking a deep breath and swallowed around Stiles the way he knew he liked. He held back a grin and a gag as Stiles began to shake and whimper at the tight, hot feeling of Theo’s throat around his dick.</p><p>Stiles was a sucker for blowjobs, the combination of having Theo on his knees, pulling his hair, and, “God, the way your fucking lips look around my cock. Jesus fuck, Theo.” </p><p>Which meant it was a surefire way to get Stiles off quickly, and soon after that is exactly what happened. His body gave no resistance as Theo felt Stiles’ hands tightening in his hair, the Siren tugging Theo forward, faster and harder as Stiles thrust deep into the back of Theo’s mouth and came with a shout.</p><p>Theo stayed on his knees and swallowed dutifully, licking Stiles clean before pulling off, breathing heavy for a minute. Stiles unwound his clenched hands from Theo’s hair and slipped back against the bed.</p><p>The orgasm had the convenient effect of clearing Stiles’ mind, so Theo sat quietly as the aftereffects of the thrall wore off him, and he slowly came back to awareness of his own body and mind, resting his head against Stiles’ thigh once he was back in control of himself. </p><p>“You good?” Stiles asked, one hand mindlessly stroking through Theo’s hair, patting his head tiredly.</p><p>“Yeah.” Theo replied, “You?”</p><p>Theo watched as Stiles sat up, his stomach flexing as he rolled up and looked down at him with a small smile, “I’m good.” Stiles said then tugged Theo up and leaned in for a kiss. “I think you’re going to need to shower again since the pack’s coming.” </p><p>Theo rolled his eyes fondly, “It’s a good thing werewolves can’t get dry skin, with the number of showers I have to take around here.”</p><p>Stiles smirked, “Maybe I just wanted round two in the shower?” </p><p>Theo swallowed hard at that. </p><p>Well. That was as good an excuse as any.</p><p>--</p><p>Lydia had hoped that, by going to a prestigious school like Stanford, perhaps she might finally be able to leave the facade of the vapid socialite behind her. She’d imagined what it would be like to make friends as herself, for people to see her for her brains before they saw her beauty.</p><p>She was currently double majoring in physics and mathematics, with goals of working for NASA and maybe one day getting to work on one of the orbital space stations. </p><p>She was more than just pretty arm candy and she had survived too much to ever be considered simple or ordinary again. </p><p>But Lydia still lacked the ability to drown out the incessant chatter of the others who were sitting around her. She was sitting cross-legged in the grass outside of the Stanford Oval, just across from the main quad, a textbook in her lap as she reviewed her notes for the upcoming class. Eager to get ahead, she was taking an accelerated modern physics class, alongside a linear algebra course over the shortened summer term, which meant that she was in a never ending loop of memorizing equations and various matrix operations.</p><p>She loved it. </p><p>The people around her, from what she had unfortunately overheard, were working on a lab report for a summer chemistry lab class, but had stopped their analysis of whatever organic compound they’d synthesized to comment on <em> whoever </em> it was that had caught their attention. </p><p>“...do you think that’s his natural hair color? It’s so dark.” One of them pondered. Lydia rolled her eyes and tried to get herself to focus back into the section she’d been reading.</p><p>“Who cares about his hair, look at his arms.” The companion of the first whistled low. “And could his jeans be tighter?” </p><p>“His jeans don’t even look that tight, they’re not like skinny jeans. I think his legs are just <em> that </em> built.”</p><p>“Oh fuck, he’s coming this way, quit staring.” </p><p>Lydia sighed, shaking her head slowly as she laughed to herself and decided to see if she agreed with their assessment about this mystery hunk’s legs. </p><p>Her eyes flicked around the oval, only to land on the dark-haired, well built figure that was in fact making his way in their direction. Her lips split into a smile when she saw him. The girls continued squealing about him, only Lydia got the intense pleasure of knowing that he probably heard every word they said. </p><p>Yes, that was his natural hair color, his arms were extraordinary, and his legs really <em> were </em> that built. He was a werewolf, after all.</p><p>Derek smirked at her from behind a pair of black sunglasses as he dropped to a seat in the grass next to her, leaning over to press a kiss to her cheek. </p><p>“I thought I might find you here.” He murmured, flicking his sunglasses atop his head with a yawn. “You have class at three, right? Did you want to head to Beacon Hills tonight, or tomorrow morning?”</p><p>Lydia gave an agreeing hum and glanced at the cloudless blue sky. “I think we can leave in the morning. If I know anything about Stiles and Theo, whether we go tonight or tomorrow won’t make a difference - getting them to pack in any kind of organized fashion is going to be like pulling teeth.” </p><p>Derek grimaced, “Remind me again why we have to help them?” </p><p>Lydia swatted his arm playfully, “They’re our friends, Der.” She grinned at him, leaning over to press her lips against his briefly, enjoying the way Derek’s chest occasionally shook with a silent chuckle at the whispers of the indiscreetly leering chemistry students. She pulled back after a moment, eyebrows drawn together, “What are you doing on campus anyway? You graduated.”</p><p>Derek had only had a year left to complete his undergraduate degree in classics, having transferred in most of his credits from NYU, completing what was left over the course of their first two semesters at Stanford. He’d graduated back at the end of April, electing not to walk or make a big deal out of it despite Lydia’s protestations. </p><p>Derek licked his lips and caught her gaze, “I was meeting with Dr. Owens.” </p><p>Lydia frowned, “Who?”</p><p>“My Modern Mythology professor from fall semester. He uh, wanted to know if I’d consider applying for their masters program. He’s apparently very interested in my perspective on modern interpretations of werewolf mythology.” Derek smirked.</p><p>Lydia raised an eyebrow, lips lifting at the edges in a tiny smile, a laugh at the back of her throat, “What did you tell him?”</p><p>Derek’s smile widened, “That I’d already agreed to do my Masters with Dr. Angelos, focusing on the modern interpretation of ancient mythological creatures.”</p><p>Lydia leaned forward to kiss Derek again, “Stiles agreed then?” </p><p>“I mean, he’s not the one who spent three months in Greece last year collecting information, but yes, I have Stiles’ blessing to do my masters thesis on sirens. I even checked in with Nefeli and she agreed to help as much as she could.” </p><p>Lydia stroked a finger along the curve of Derek’s jaw, fiddling with the hair of his neatly-trimmed beard, “I’m so proud of you.” She said.</p><p>She could just make out the faintest of blushes against Derek’s sunkissed skin, “Thank you.” He said softly, genuinely. “You should probably get to class.” </p><p>Lydia glanced at her watch and sighed, grabbing her phone, text book, and bag. “You're such a bad influence, Derek Hale.” She pressed a last kiss to his cheek and headed off in the direction of the mathematics building. “But I love you anyway.” She whispered, knowing he’d be able to hear her.</p><p>She didn’t have to look behind her to see the smile on his face, she knew it would be there.</p><p>Lydia and Derek had moved to Stanford together with every intention of being roommates and packmates, nothing more. Apparently though, while they considered spending almost all of their free time together, cooking for each other, and checking in with each other constantly as perfectly acceptable platonic behavior, <em> Stiles </em> of all people had been the one to point out that they were both pining, badly. He’d also insisted that if they didn’t figure their shit out before the next time he visited, he’d <em> make </em> them figure it out.</p><p>It hadn’t surprised anyone that it was Lydia who gave in first, since Derek was well practiced in the art of denying himself of anything good. She’d climbed out of her bed one night, crossed the hallway, opened the door to Derek’s room and slid into bed with him. Derek had stayed frozen on one side of the bed for a long time, but eventually, he turned over and pulled the Banshee into his arms, pressing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. </p><p>They were ‘officially’ together by the time they went back to Beacon Hills for Christmas, complete with congratulations from Scott, leering from Peter, and a sarcastic “<em>Thank God!” </em> from Stiles. </p><p>Their relationship was far from the standard for people their age. Both of them had a history of relationships that ended in death and destruction, and both of them guarded their hearts fiercely. While Lydia had owned her sexuality and used sex for her own benefit, sex had been a weapon repeatedly used against Derek, and she was acutely aware of that. It could be years before Derek saw sex as something he was <em> allowed </em> to enjoy, or he may never. In the meantime, Lydia was content with their relationship as it was; affectionate, soft, and sweet, never forced or rushed.</p><p>Most of all they were safe. Safe, content, in love, everything she’d never realized she needed, but now couldn’t live without. </p><p>--</p><p>After their shared shower, Theo assembled dinner for himself and the two Stilinski men. They had a good routine; Sundays and Tuesdays, Stiles cooked, Mondays and Thursdays the Sheriff, and Wednesdays and Fridays was Theo’s turn. Saturdays they usually ordered takeout or went out for a meal together. </p><p>It was domestic and painfully normal and sometimes, Theo got overwhelmed by memories of a time <em> before</em>.</p><p>Usually it was just safer to shut down that avenue of thought before they could proceed too far. </p><p>By the time Noah got home, Theo was plating the simple pasta dish he’d put together, and Stiles was sitting at the table on his phone, chattering about predicted traffic and how even though the drive from UC Berkeley to Stanford was less than fifty miles, on bad days it could take over two hours to make the drive. </p><p>“Well, that’s what you get for leaving a sleepy little town like this to go to the big city.” Noah remarked, squeezing Stiles’ shoulder as he dropped into his seat at the table. </p><p>“Beacon Hills is a lot of things, but sleepy wouldn’t be on that list.” Theo added.</p><p>Noah tipped his beer bottle towards Theo in a concession and turned to the food. “Did you decide what you’re majoring in, Stiles? I know you were between some options.” </p><p>
  <span>“I went with both. Psychology is cool and important, and then they have some kind of legal studies program so I can apply for their criminal justice law program down the road.” Stiles shrugged, “If Lydia can do math </span>
  <em>
    <span>and</span>
  </em>
  <span> physics, I can probably handle two softer-ologies.”</span>
</p><p>“Don’t overload yourself. It’s your first semester away, it could be a lot to manage.” </p><p>Stiles looked up from his food to shoot a grin at Theo across the table, “I’ll be okay, Dad. What’s the point of bringing a guard dog with you to college if you can’t take advantage of their presence and relax?”</p><p>Theo growled playfully, Noah laughed, and the table fell into easy silence for a few minutes. As Noah cleared his plate, he turned to Theo, and Theo felt his heart drop in his chest.</p><p>“What about you? Make any decisions yet?” </p><p>Theo cleared his throat and took a drink from his glass of water. “I…” </p><p>He glanced across the table at Stiles, who was leaning in, all of that focus on him. A tendril of comfort, acceptance, a call to breathe and relax seeped across the table, and Theo sighed. </p><p>“I got accepted into a First Responders certification course. To be an EMT.” Stiles’ bright, proud smile, and Noah’s approving one dragged a warm, unfamiliar feeling into Theo’s chest.</p><p>“Good for you, Theo.” Noah said, his tone genuine, even if sometimes, the look in his eyes was still wary. Theo deserved that, he’d once taken advantage of Noah and used him in his game to take over Scott’s pack and Beacon Hills, a game he’d lost.</p><p>Theo rarely, in the dead of night when Stiles was asleep and unable to pick up on his emotions or thoughts, let himself think that maybe, in the end, he’d really won.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>As always, come see us on Tumblr!<br/><a href="https://tiniestawoo.tumblr.com">tiniestawoo</a><br/><a href="https://impractical-matters.tumblr.com">impractical_matters</a></p><p> See y'all soon!</p><p>(also if anyone's curious, Sac State has a really good Early Childhood Education program which is my (tiniest's) head canon for Malia!)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Against a Rocky Coast</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi Everyone! Welcome back!</p><p>To avoid obvious spoilers, the extended warnings for this chapter will be listed in the end notes, but here's the general list of triggers: kidnapping, vivid ptsd related nightmares, involuntary drug use/non consensual drug use</p><p>If any of these things concern you, please see the end notes before reading.</p><p>impractical_matters: this is one of my favorite chapters in this series and I really hope you all enjoy it! </p><p>Let us know what you think and thank you for reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The telltale creaking of the third stair woke Theo suddenly. </p><p>He and Stiles had mapped out all the creaks and groans of the Stilinski’s house, making it almost a game to see how late they could come into the house without waking Noah. The loudest creak was always on the third step, a little to the right of center. He normally wouldn’t care, it could have been Noah getting up to get water or something.</p><p>But then he noticed he could hear <em> way </em> too many heartbeats in the house. </p><p>He nudged Stiles, as quietly as he could until the other’s eyes cracked, sleepily narrowed in Theo’s direction. </p><p>Theo held a finger up to his lips. Stiles sat up immediately, and Theo watched his eyes flick around the room, heard the uptick in his heart rate. Theo climbed out of bed as quietly as he could, dodging the floorboards in Stiles’ room that also made noise. He could hear faint footsteps on the stairs and in the upstairs hallway. Four heartbeats that didn’t belong. One vaguely familiar scent and three unfamiliar ones. </p><p>Theo crouched, just out of view of the door, and watched as the handle started to turn-</p><p>And immediately felt the prick of a tranquilizer round catching him on the side of his neck. He let out a loud snarl in response that was sure to wake Noah, for better or worse, as he felt his limbs go numb. </p><p>He heard a scuffle in the next room over and hoped like hell he hadn’t just gotten Stiles’ father killed. His eyes fell on the open window that the shot had come through, catching sight of the vague shadow of someone on the roof across the road, and mentally chiding himself for not being more aware of the multiple possible angles of attack. </p><p>Someone had planned this well, and Theo had fallen right into their trap.</p><p>Stiles called out his name as Theo hit the floor with a loud thud, scrambling out of the bed just as the door burst open, and for Stiles to be hit with a dart of his own. Stiles dropped almost instantly, crumpling on the floor in a heap. Theo, immobilized and slipping quickly into unconsciousness, watched through bleary eyes as heavy metal shackles (most likely iron, his brain provided) were slapped onto Stiles’ wrists, the Siren’s hands struggling helplessly despite the haze of the tranquilizer. </p><p>Iron. </p><p>Iron was okay.</p><p>Iron wouldn’t-</p><p>Couldn’t-</p><p>Kill him.</p><p>--</p><p>The surgeon, the geneticist and the pathologist had their backs to Theo when his eyes finally opened again. Theo knew this place, knew the dingy floors and the blood-spattered walls. He knew the scent of rot and mercury that had been burned into his mind. The scent of the disgusting, bubbling containment tube that had once contained the Dread Doctor’s life-extending specimen sent shivers down his spine.</p><p>Theo had never wanted to be back here again, never wanted to go back to this place, or to the person he had been here. The memories were powerful, painful, horrifying.<br/>
<br/>
“<em>Failure</em>.” The stilted voice of the geneticist interrupted the scream that Theo had barely noticed but now couldn’t stop hearing.</p><p>Stiles.</p><p>“You have failed. You brought us another failure. Terminate the subject.” </p><p>The surgeon stepped forward, injecting something into the body that was strapped to the dingy exam chair where the Doctors made their chimeras. The screaming stopped suddenly, the chamber fell silent aside from the odd breathing of the Doctors and the pounding of Theo’s own heart. </p><p>When the Doctor’s stepped away, Theo saw Stiles strapped to the chair, his head slightly askew, eyes wide, a single mercury tear sliding down his face. In the center of Stiles’ chest was a bronze knife coated with blood - Theo’s own blood, from the smell.</p><p>“NO!” Theo roared, turning on the doctors with hot, burning anger, fangs dropping, claws extending. “NO!”</p><p>“All failures must be terminated.” </p><p>Theo launched himself at them and<em>- </em></p><p>He woke with a start to a burning pain in his hand and four more heartbeats than he would have expected. At least this time, they were vaguely familiar. </p><p>He blinked his eyes open, his body fighting off the drugs from the tranquilizer, though the increased healing factor from his <em> broken finger </em> seemed to help. The world slowly swam back into focus. He sighed in relief when it was Stiles’ room that awaited him. </p><p>This was real, then. It had only been a dream. </p><p>Scott, heartbeat number one, was crouched in front of him, Theo’s hand in both of his, black lines drawing the pain away from the broken digit. The Alpha’s eyebrows were drawn together in a mask of concern. </p><p>“Theo?”</p><p>“Someone took Stiles.” He managed, though the words were heavy and slurred on his tongue. He shook his head, blinking, “Iron shackles. Not bronze.” </p><p>“Iron, that’s good at least.” Scott repeated with a nod. “Noah called me. He said there were four of them, but he didn’t see any faces.”</p><p>“Five.” Theo grunted. “They had someone outside, shot me through the window.” </p><p>“Someone planned this.” Malia, heartbeat number two, announced, and Theo turned to look at her where she was sitting in Stiles’ computer chair, nostrils flaring in a consistent pattern. “But wouldn’t it have been easier to just kill him here?”</p><p>“I don’t think they wanted him dead.” Lydia, heartbeat number three, said as she stared at the other tranquilizer dart nearer to the bed, the one that had probably been used on Stiles. “Why would they bother to tranquilize him if they just wanted to kill him? Why leave Theo alive?”</p><p>“They definitely don’t want him dead.” Derek’s voice, and heartbeat number four, rounded out the group, though he was out of Theo’s sightline, probably blocked by the door. “And honestly, with a wolf, it was probably easier to knock him out, it would have taken time that they didn’t have to make sure he was dead.”</p><p>If Derek and Lydia were here, that meant Theo had been out for at least two hours, probably closer to two and a half. The sun was just peeking in the sky, which made Theo’s heart sink. </p><p>“Noah’s okay then? What time is it?” </p><p>“As okay as he can be, he’s downstairs with my mom.” Scott answered with a yawn. “It’s about 5am. The kidnappers took him around 2am. Noah called me, and then I called Derek and Lydia as soon as I got off the phone. Peter and Chris have already checked the perimeter and followed the first trail they could find, but it ends a few blocks away.” </p><p>“A getaway car.” </p><p>Theo blamed the remnant drugs in his system for the fact that tears welled up openly in his eyes, and he blinked quickly, raising a still-sluggish hand to his face to brush away the few that slipped out. Thankfully, nobody mentioned it.</p><p>Scott pushed up to stand and held out a hand to Theo. “Chris is making some food. Let’s go see if they found anything.” </p><p>Theo took the hand and allowed Scott to pull him up, his legs still shaky underneath him. He couldn’t be sure if it was physical or psychological at this point. He felt numb inside, confused. </p><p>Stiles was <em> missing</em>.</p><p>As they made their way slowly down the stairs, Scott kept a steadying hand on Theo’s shoulder. Theo could hear the quiet voices of Noah and Melissa, and the faint sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. They passed Peter in the living room, the older wolf giving Theo an almost-sympathetic expression that only served to make him feel worse. Scott helped Theo into a chair, and Noah turned to him. Theo looked away, shame burning in him.</p><p>He had one job. His <em> only </em> job was to protect Stiles.</p><p>And he’d <em> failed</em>.</p><p>“Are you okay?” Noah asked. </p><p>Theo turned to him, not expecting the sincerity, or the tenderness in the question. “Fine.” He said, but he knew every werewolf in the house would hear the lie. “Whatever tranquilizer they used was strong. I’ll be okay soon.” </p><p>The look on Noah’s face told Theo that it didn’t take being a werewolf to hear the lie, but he was thankful when the Sheriff didn’t press the issue. </p><p>“Someone smelled almost... familiar.” Theo said, desperate to end the uncomfortable, ringing silence, “Like, I might have come across their scent before but I can't place it.” He turned his head, glancing at the man at the stove, drawing in a breath. “It kind of smelled like you.”</p><p>Chris stopped what he was doing and turned to Theo with a slightly worried look. “What do you mean?” </p><p>“My scent memory gets a little fuzzy between chimera and werewolf. If I did smell this scent before, it was when I was a chimera. It’s not your scent, but it’s similar. But it smells...” Theo stopped. </p><p>Scott had frowned, and sniffed the air a few times, wandering slowly back up towards Stiles’ room. Malia hovered in the doorway to the kitchen, face flickering between anxiety and sadness. Lydia and Derek had stayed in the living room with Peter, the Stilinski home was really not built to handle the current number of occupants. </p><p>He heard Scott stomp back down the stairs and return to the kitchen with a grim look on his face. </p><p>“I thought something smelled off, but I just assumed it was because this house has always smelled familiar to me.” The Alpha announced, looking directly at Theo. “You’re sure you’ve smelled this scent before?”</p><p>“Pretty sure.” Theo replied. </p><p>“And you’re sure it’s similar to Chris?” </p><p>“Yes.”</p><p>Scott turned to Chris with a pinched expression, and Theo caught a waft of shame from the hunter. “Do you know where he is?”</p><p>Chris shook his head. “No, I don’t. I’m sorry, Scott.” </p><p>Theo’s eyes widened, hope sparking, a glint of ember against a pit of darkness. He saw Noah sit forward too, eyes inquisitive.</p><p>The question was barely audible when he finally asked it.</p><p>“Who?” </p><p>Scott sighed and shook his head, “I think it’s Gerard Argent.”</p><p>--</p><p>Stiles was… floating. </p><p>His brain felt like mush. It wasn’t like the cold white room of possession, his body was still his. He could lift his hands and make a fist, but he just… didn’t want to. His eyes worked, he could see light, but it was like the connection to his brain was broken. Nothing seemed to work right. His heart rate was slow, even, regular, despite the fact that in all reality he should probably be panicked. Or freaking out. Yeah, definitely should be freaking out right now.</p><p>But he just couldn’t find those emotions right now. Or any emotions. There was nothing.</p><p>Everything was very far away. Detached.</p><p>“Oh good, you’re awake.”</p><p>Apparently his ears were still working.</p><p>That voice. He knew that voice. An involuntarily shudder ran down the back of his neck, and an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. </p><p>Fear. Of course, of all the emotions he could still access, fear had to be one of them.</p><p>“I’m glad to see the drugs are working. I even had them up the painkillers, since your wrists must be hurting.”</p><p>The voice was coming from behind him, and the energy to turn his head or really move anything for that matter, was absolutely not something he currently possessed.</p><p>Huh. Stiles glanced slowly down at his wrists, and sure enough, he could barely make out that his skin was angry red; though he could vaguely feel the burn of fresh cuts on wrists where a pair of cuffs were hanging heavy and harsh against his skin. His hands felt hot, his wrists were stinging from the open wounds, but he didn’t really have the capacity to process the pain he was supposed to be feeling right now.</p><p>“Hopefully, once we have a chat, you’ll see my side of this, and I can take the cuffs off, and maybe the gag, and even lower some of the drug cocktail.”</p><p>He hadn’t even realized he <em> was </em> gagged until the word got mentioned, and then he could feel the taste of cloth smothering his mouth. At least it wasn’t tape. Taking tape off was the worst. Somewhere in his memory he remembered having tape over his-</p><p>“Stay with me, Stiles.” </p><p>Stiles blinked and lifted his head back up, his eyes finally falling on the person who was talking to him. Again, the connection between his eyes and his brain seemed to be broken, so all he could make out was a fuzzy triplicate of the man in front of him surrounded by bursts of light; regardless, he knew that face.</p><p>He’d know it in any form, because he’d seen it so often haunting his nightmares. The original monster under the bed.</p><p>Peter Hale may have bit Scott and started them on this path, but for Stiles, Peter was never really the monster of their story. </p><p>As he blearily tried to focus his eyes into an expression that might relay an ounce of his anger, the image came slightly into focus.</p><p>A receding white hairline. </p><p>Wrinkled face with age spots.</p><p>A disarming attempt at a smile.</p><p>“Now, you and I have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”</p><p>Stiles knew this face. Knew this voice.</p><p><em> Gerard</em>.</p><p>--</p><p>With Noah, Jordan, and the rest of the department out looking for any sign of Stiles or Gerard, Scott, Malia and Derek went to meet with the puppy pack to organize searches of the various possible locations. Chris Argent was looking into his father’s recent activities, Lydia had been left at the Stilinski house with Peter and Theo in case, by some miracle, Stiles returned on his own. </p><p>After twenty minutes of dealing with Theo’s painfully obvious repressed emotions and Peter’s mocking boredom, Lydia had wandered upstairs to Stiles’ room, looking around at the almost bare walls. It was clear that, while he hadn’t actually achieved much packing, he and Theo had slowly been removing things from the room, preparing to move, preparing to start a new life. </p><p>In the corner, covered in a light layer of dust, was Stiles’ investigation board.  Lydia pulled it out, found a rag and wiped down the transparent board, scrubbing away the year-old notes about Stiles’ powers. That had been their last major supernatural mystery, and it had come the closest to tearing them all apart. </p><p>She frowned, her hand hovering over the bottom corner, a list of names: Derek, Scott, Lydia, Liam, Derek, Lydia, Theo, Lydia, Scott, Mason. </p><p>She wiped it away with a sigh, pushing the memories out of her mind. A year ago felt like a lifetime ago compared to now. It had been a different time, back before they understood what it really meant for Stiles to be a siren, before they’d been forced to face that there was no <em> fixing </em> Stiles, there was just accepting him, trusting him, and loving him. She’d nearly lost him a year ago, both metaphorically and literally.<br/>
<br/>
She certainly wasn’t ready to lose him now. </p><p>Dragging in a deep breath, she picked up the picture of Stiles that she’d printed out, tacking it to the far end of the board, her lip curling as she did the same with Gerard Argent’s smirking face, just to the right of Stiles’ picture. Under Stiles’ face, she wrote: ‘McCall pack,’ ‘Siren,’ ‘Thrall x 3,’ and ‘emotional perception.’ Above the picture she wrote; ‘Tranquilizer’ and ‘Iron Shackles.’</p><p>Drawing a line from Gerard’s face, she wrote the word ‘Motivations’ and then tapped the end of the marker against the board. She wrote the word ‘elimination’ underneath the heading and then crossed it out. If Gerard wanted to kill Stiles - if he even knew how - kidnapping him would have been unnecessary. Theo had been under Stiles’ thrall daily for over a year, his blood on a bronze dagger would have been more than enough to destroy Stiles. </p><p>“He wants to use him.” Theo’s voice shocked Lydia enough that she jumped. “From what I know about Gerard it’s the only logical explanation for taking Stiles alive.”</p><p>She turned to him with a quirked eyebrow and offered the marker. Theo took it and turned to the board, adding ‘invulnerability’ to Lydia’s list of Stiles’ strengths, a ‘+4’ under Gerard’s face, and the word ‘Use’ under the ‘Motivations’ header. Theo stepped back to look at the board, before drawing a pair of forked lines from the word use, adding ‘why’ and ‘how’ at the end of each of them.</p><p>Lydia nodded approvingly. “Stiles isn’t going to work with him willingly.”</p><p>“Drugs.” Peter said from the doorway, holding out a hand to Theo for the marker. “You’d be surprised what kind of odd array of drugs are available nowadays.”</p><p>“What would it take to control Stiles? You’d literally have to keep him from being able to <em> think</em>.” Theo turned to Peter to hand over the marker, his face focused in a way Lydia wasn’t sure she’d ever seen it. In a strange way, it felt like this interaction with Theo was clarifying the relationship between Theo and Stiles for her better than any other ever had.<br/>
<br/>
“You’re telling me that in all your time under Stiles’ thrall, you’ve never once considered what it would take to turn the tables?” Peter chuckled and smirked, “What kind of mass murdering psychopath <em> are </em> you?” </p><p>“A reformed one.” Theo muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. “Asshole.”</p><p>The eldest Hale stepped up to the board and added the word ‘Drugs’ under ‘how,’ curling the ‘g’ with a pretentious flourish of his wrist.</p><p>“To stop a siren, you’re right though, you’d need a combination of factors; something to keep them from forming coherent thoughts of their own, so some kind of sedative or confounding agent. Then you’d need something that makes them suggestible, otherwise, what’s the point?” Peter added ‘Incoherent’ and ‘Suggestible’ to the board.</p><p>Lydia was vaguely uncomfortable with how thoroughly Peter had thought this through, but she couldn’t fault his logic. “Tranquilizing him makes sense, it prevents him from fighting back. It’s the same tactic Deaton used when he first found out about Stiles’ powers. Why the shackles though?”</p><p>“Torture.” Theo growled, and Lydia didn’t miss the way his fists clenched, “Stiles doesn’t have super strength like a natural born siren, regular handcuffs would have been fine. They intentionally used something that was going to hurt him.”</p><p>“That way, taking them off will seem like a kind gesture.” Peter agreed. “It’s classic manipulation tactics. At his full capacity, Stiles would see right through them.”</p><p>“At his full capacity, Stiles wouldn’t be in this situation.” Lydia sighed under her breath. Both werewolves heard her, and the room lapsed into silence as each of them stared at the board. </p><p>Peter tapped the word ‘why.’ “Gerard hates all supernatural creatures. He hates them enough to want his own daughter dead, and yet, when it came down to it, he was willing to accept a werewolf bite to save his own life. Then, he manages to convince his son to heal him to ‘help’ with the Beast, and then disappears again. He’s very likely not brave enough to go for a werewolf bite again, so what is his endgame?”</p><p>“Protection?” Theo postulated, “He wants to use Stiles as some kind of bodyguard? It’s not like he can turn Gerard into a siren.”</p><p>“Thank god for that.” Lydia said, eyes wide and heart rate increased at the very thought. “That would be a nightmare.”</p><p>“And this isn’t?” Theo muttered, watching as Peter wrote ‘Protection?’ and then ‘Weapon?’ on the board under ‘why.’ “A weapon against who though?”</p><p>Peter raised an eyebrow at the younger wolf, and then his too-knowing eyes flicked to Lydia.</p><p>“Who do you think Gerard could use an incoherent, suggestible Stiles as a weapon against for maximum impact, Lydia? Theo was a year too late for that, but I know you caught the tail end of it. Who might Gerard want to get his <em> revenge </em> against?” </p><p>Memories of Jackson, dead on a lacrosse field flashed before her eyes but she steeled herself. She grabbed the green marker from the board and drew a circle around the word weapon. From the circle, she drew an arrow to the words ‘McCall Pack’ and then circled the words too. </p><p>Theo frowned, “What can Gerard possibly still have against Scott?”</p><p>“Gerard doesn’t like to lose.” Peter said, “And it’s frustratingly difficult to beat Scott. The best way to do it? You should know the answer to this one, Theo, you did it masterfully.”</p><p>Theo swallowed hard, staring at the picture on the board. “Pit him against Stiles.” He whispered before he quickly stormed out of the room, shedding his clothes as he went, and slamming the back door as he left the house. </p><p>If she was a werewolf, Lydia wondered, would she have <em> heard </em>Theo’s heart break?</p><p>--</p><p>Whatever they’d given him for the pain was fading, that was about the only thing Stiles was sure of. He still couldn’t really think beyond his basic senses. His mouth tasted like the cloth that had been stuffed in it for hours now. His tongue was painfully dry, and he hadn’t had anything to drink in… wow, way too long to count.</p><p>His wrists were hypersensitive at this point, and Stiles had stopped trying to move them a long time ago, holding them as still as possible. His fingers were clawed on his thighs, doing his best to support his wrists so they didn’t contact the cuffs directly, but it didn’t help much. His ass was sore from whatever surface he was sat on.</p><p>He was in some kind of living room, he suspected. He could see a closed front door. Odd that he was left with such easy access to a door. The floor was cold, his wrists were hot, and Stiles was hungry. </p><p>He wished he <em> didn’t </em> know that it didn’t matter how hard his stomach cramped or how loud it growled, he wouldn’t actually die from starvation, it just hurt like a bitch. </p><p>At least if he was still a squishy human, death would have been one possible outcome from this situation, but given his species alteration, unless they were particularly knowledgeable about siren lore, it was pretty unlikely.</p><p>Before Stiles even realizes there was anyone else in the room with him, a needle pricked the back of his neck, and then he was slowly floating again.<br/>
<br/>
“Take off his gag.” </p><p>That fucking voice again.</p><p>Stiles feels something that resembles anger but can’t quite get himself all the way there for some reason. Somewhere, in the recesses of his mind, he wants this person dead, but he can barely feel his need, his connection to his siren powers. While he was like this, he certainly couldn’t use silent thrall. </p><p>Someone tugged the cloth out of his mouth and handed him a bottle of water. Stiles stared at it blankly for a moment.</p><p>“What are you waiting for? Drink it.” Gerard said, his arms folded over his chest. </p><p>Stiles is surprised by the fact that he does, twisting the cap off clumsily, squeezing the bottle too tightly, some water squirting out as the lid cracks free. He brings it to his lips and drinks. Its a room temperature generic bottle of water, and at that moment, the best thing Stiles has ever tasted. </p><p>“Do you know who I am, Stiles? Has your mind recovered that at least?”</p><p>“Gerard.” Stiles manages, with much effort, then sucking down another gulp of the water.</p><p>“I suppose that makes this all the more fun.” Gerard sounds sickeningly gleeful. “Stiles, can you make my friend over there sit for me?” Gerard gestures at the vague shape of what might have been another person.</p><p>“<b>Sit</b>.” Stiles said, lazily. Something in his chest hums, pleased. Pain he hadn’t noticed seeps away slowly as the man drops to a seat. </p><p>“Brilliant.” Gerard smirks as he walks in a circle around him.</p><p>Only then does Stiles realize that there’s a line of white between him and the Argent Patriarch. And him and the door. Salt, probably. But he can’t find the energy to care.</p><p>“You’re going to be a wonderful addition to our team. The drugs, they’re supposed to be addictive after a few days, so it’s only a matter of time before you’ll need them to function. I bet your little overactive brain is so wonderfully empty right now.” </p><p>Stiles’ mouth opens like he’s going to reply - a habit, really - but nothing comes out. </p><p>Stiles hates that he can <em> feel </em> Gerard’s joy at his lack of response.</p><p>He slumps over and closes his eyes, fading to sleep to the sound of Gerard’s retreating footsteps.</p><p>--</p><p>Derek pulled up to the Stilinski house just after dark that evening, parking his SUV along the side of the street, before they all stepped out and went into the house. All of them were exhausted, overwhelmed, defeated by the unfortunate circumstances they were facing. Stiles had been missing for eighteen hours and they were no closer to finding him than they’d been when Noah first called them in the middle of the night.</p><p>This weekend was supposed to be a reunion of sorts; Derek and Lydia had driven up from Stanford, Scott and Malia from Sacramento, all to help Stiles and Theo pack so that, finally, the pair of them could get out of this disaster town. </p><p>And once again, an Argent had twisted Beacon Hills into their own little playground, and once again, someone Derek loved was in their clutches. It made him sick, and scratched at the deeply-scarred wounds of self-hatred and guilt that still plagued him. </p><p>Lydia was sitting on a loveseat in the Stilinski’s living room, curled around a cup of still-warm tea. He leaned in to kiss her cheek, one of her small, warm hands curling around the side of his face to hold him there for a moment. Derek’s eyes fluttered closed. </p><p>A very, very selfish part of him was glad that it was Stiles that was missing and not Lydia. For as strong as she was, and as strong as Derek strived to be, he wasn’t sure either of them would have been equipped to handle this, either on Stiles’ end, or Theo’s. </p><p>Speaking of. “Where’s Theo?” He asked. </p><p>Lydia sighed and sat her tea down. “Well, we think we figured out why Gerard took Stiles.” </p><p>Scott and Malia turned to Lydia, their heads cocked at almost the exact same angles. Derek sat next to Lydia on the loveseat, and Noah moved from the kitchen table where he’d been sitting with Melissa and Chris into the living room, Chris hovering in the doorway. Peter had perched himself characteristically on the stairs, looking like the cat that got the cream in a way that annoyed Derek more than scared him these days.</p><p>“We did one of Stiles’ investigation boards, it’s upstairs.” Lydia quickly and thoroughly explained the theory that she, Theo and Peter had worked out earlier, and by the end of it, it seemed everyone in the room was on board. “And, once we were done, he just... left.”</p><p>“Left?” Scott asked. “Where did he go?” </p><p>“The preserve, I suspect.” Peter said from the stairs, “Seeing as he left his clothes behind.”</p><p>Oh. So, he’d run off in full-shift then. </p><p>Scott turned to Derek, Derek turned to Malia, and Malia rolled her eyes. Scott gave them both a nod, “I know he’s not your favorite person-”</p><p>“Understatement.” Malia grumbled.</p><p>“-but he’s important to Stiles.” Scott finished, ignoring the interjection, “And I certainly wouldn't want to be the one to explain to Stiles that we just let Theo run off and get hurt and then never bothered to try and find him.” </p><p>Derek leaned over to kiss Lydia’s cheek before he motioned with his head for Malia to follow him. Wordlessly, the pair of them headed out the back door, stripped down and shifted, following the angst-and-grief amplified scent trail through the woods behind the house and towards the preserve.</p><p>They found Theo still fully shifted, lying curled into himself, beneath the brush near the old distillery. They approached him slowly, not wanting to spook him. Derek nudged him with his nose until he was sure Theo was paying attention, and then shifted back, looking at him expectantly. Malia turned away from Derek and also shifted back, muttering something about it being a good thing it was May or she’d be cold and pissed.</p><p>It took a moment for Theo to shift back, his face dirty and dusty, eyes filled with an uncertain kind of sadness, “I guess you didn’t find him?”</p><p>“No.” Derek answered, studying him. “Lydia told us about the theory. About using Stiles as a weapon.” </p><p>Theo nodded, his eyes on the ground, one finger absently scratching at the dirt. “That’s the true downfall of the powerful; there’s always someone who decides that your power would be better suited for them, and then turns you into their weapon.”<br/>
<br/>
“This <em>isn’t</em> your fault.” Derek said, “You know that, right?” </p><p>Theo met his eyes, his own pale ones glinting in the moonlight. “I watched them take him.”</p><p>“You were<em> tranquilized</em>.” Malia snorted, “There was nothing you could have done.” </p><p>“I could have checked the window. I could have heard them enter the house sooner. I could have-”</p><p>“Gerard Argent has been hunting werewolves for fifty years.” Derek cut Theo off, the tired, survivor’s-guilt-laced excuses grating on his nerves. “I don’t care how well the Dread Doctors trained you, there’s a reason that cockroach has survived this long. He’s smart, he’s crafty, and he’s ruthless. I promise you Theo, if you <em> had </em> managed to fight back, you only would have ended up dead. And I don’t want to think about what would happen to Stiles if he lost someone he loves again.”</p><p>Theo turned his head quickly away. “Stiles doesn’t love me.” </p><p>Malia rolled her eyes and huffed, “C’mon, you don’t actually believe that. Of course he does, dumbass.”</p><p>Derek watched the realization dawn on him that if <em> Malia </em> had picked up on a social subtlety like that, then it was most likely true.</p><p>“And you do know, it’s kind of obvious that you love him too, right?” Derek said hesitantly, cocking an eyebrow at the younger wolf. </p><p>A part of him wanted to roll his eyes and just drag Theo back to the Stilinski house, so someone more qualified, like Lydia or Scott, could get this through his head. But, the more dominant part of him recognized that this was probably a difficult topic for someone like Theo who has had so few experiences with real emotion, let alone love.</p><p>“Maybe by some definition of the word. I guess he does.” Theo said finally.</p><p>Malia sighed, obviously getting annoyed with how obtuse Theo was being.“Look, here’s the thing about Stiles. There is no middle ground with him. You either love him for all of his hyperactive, sarcastic, loud, rambling ways, or you <em> hate </em> him. And you certainly don’t <em> hate </em> him. So, I’d consider yourself lucky because when someone like him loves you back, there’s no getting rid of him, that’s just who he is. So, get off your ass, stop moping, and do something about it.”</p><p>“We’re gonna find him, Theo.” He reached out with a tentative hand on Theo’s bare shoulder. The younger wolf hesitated a moment before leaning into the touch, feeling the comfort wash over him from the feeling of pack reassurance. “We’re gonna bring him home, safe and sound because that’s what he would do for us.”</p><p>For a moment, just a moment, Derek wondered if the wolf was finally going to drop his guard, finally show the vulnerable side that Stiles alone had seen. But then, Theo shook his arm out of Derek’s grip and rolled over onto his hands and knees. </p><p>“I’ll believe it when I see it.” He muttered roughly, before shifting and darting away.</p><p>Derek looked at Malia who just shrugged, and then the pair of them followed suit and loped after him.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p><span class="u">Trigger Warnings:</span><br/><b>Kidnapping:</b> Stiles is kidnapped in the middle of the night. Theo is tranquilized and thus is unable to stop it.<br/><b>Vivid nightmares:</b> Theo has a nightmare involving Stiles' death and the Dread Doctors.<br/><b>Non-consensual drug use:</b> Gerard uses a large cocktail of unnamed drugs to subdue Stiles' thoughts and make him suggestible. We did some research into this and believe there might be real drugs that do this? There's a paper here if anyone's curious: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00407857</p><p>tiniestawoo: <a href="https://tiniestawoo.tumblr.com/private/620921471688146944/tumblr_y7r7okr85HtJUbse1">if anyone's curious what the murder board might have looked like when they were done, I actually made it haha</a><br/>OOF okay I'm so sorry to have given you a slice of happiness and then ripped it all away but... well we couldn't have a whole story of just fluff. (okay maybe we could have, but I'd never, muahahaha) See y'all soon!!<br/> <br/><span class="u">come see us on Tumblr:</span><br/><a href="https://tiniestawoo.tumblr.com/">tiniestawoo</a><br/><a href="https://impractical-matters.tumblr.com/">impractical_matters</a><br/></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Lost at Sea</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome back! </p><p><b>There are some trigger warnings for this bad boy:</b> similar non-consensual drug use again, character death, and graphic depictions of violence</p><p>If any of these are triggering for you, we highly suggest you see the end notes (contains spoilers) for additional details.</p><p>Fasten your seat belts because this one's a doozy y'all. </p><p>Thank you for reading! Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>The entire next day, they got nowhere.</p><p>Chris and Peter cleared out every Argent hideout in the area that Chris could think of. Derek, Lydia and Theo scoured the town for clues, while Scott and Malia ran through the network of underground tunnels to just to be <em> sure </em> that there was no sign of them.</p><p>By the time they fell into bed on the second night, they could all see that Theo’s control was shattered. For someone who was typically so cold and hid his emotions so effectively behind a mask of disinterest, it was clear that he was not coping very well with the current situation. </p><p>Derek couldn’t be sure what it was that pushed Theo over the edge; maybe Stiles was Theo’s anchor? Or was it possible Theo had become addicted to Stiles’ thrall and was now suffering some type of withdrawl from the effects of having to cope without it?</p><p>He made a note at the bottom of a page in his notebook to ask Nefeli about it the next time he spoke with her.</p><p>Scott and Malia were staying with Melissa, so Lydia and Derek had taken the guest bedroom at the Stilinski’s, which only smelled faintly of Theo. It was obvious it had been a while since the former-Chimera had called this room his own. He’d hidden himself away in Stiles’ room, and nobody had gone in after him. Nobody knew how to handle Theo now that Stiles wasn’t around. The sudden loss of his mate had brought back some of Theo’s unpleasant demeanors, and nobody knew how to avoid his sharp edges long enough to help him without being cut to ribbons.</p><p>As Derek shook himself from sleep in the early hours of the third day since Stiles disappeared, he dragged in a deep breath, picking up traces of Stiles, Theo, Noah, and the comforting scent of Lydia beside him. It was barely past sunrise, but he knew there was no hope for him returning to sleep. He sat up as quietly as he could, listening to the house around him.</p><p>Theo was awake, since Derek could hear the erratic beat of his heart and faint footsteps around Stiles’ room. Noah was asleep, which was probably for the best. The man had aged more in the last 48 hours than in all the time Derek had known him. Lydia, he could see, was mostly asleep, but his movement had begun to wake her; he could hear the subtle shift in her heartbeat indicating her rise from sleep. </p><p>He turned to swing his legs over his side of the bed and rest his elbows on his knees, head in his hands. Lydia was more awake now, and he felt the bed creak behind him as she sat up, running a single delicate hand up and down the length of his spine. After a moment, she leaned close, wrapping her arms around him, and resting her head against his shoulder.</p><p>“Would you or Scott feel it?” Lydia whispered, her voice intentionally pitched so that Theo couldn’t overhear. Derek wasn’t sure if she’d known he was awake, or was just being careful. “If he was gone?”</p><p>Derek gave a helpless shrug. He turned to her, and brought his lips close to her ear, “Aren’t you the Banshee?” </p><p>Lydia sat back hard at that, and Derek turned to see her face crumple, tears filling her eyes as her lips quivered. “I can’t.” She said, shaking her head, “I can’t scream for him, Derek. I won’t.” </p><p>Derek mentally chided himself for not remembering that Lydia <em> had </em> already screamed for one person she loved.  </p><p>“He’s not gone.” Derek said, pulling her hands into his, squeezing them tight. “We’re going to find him.” He raised his voice slightly, mostly for Theo’s sake. “Stiles is a fighter. He’s a survivor. Whatever’s going on right now, he’s going to be okay. We’re all going to get through this.”</p><p>Lydia’s eyes fell closed and Derek felt her hands clenched into fists in his grip. “I just… I told you this town wasn’t going to let us go.” </p><p>Derek shook his head, bringing her hands up to his lips, kissing each knuckle delicately. “This isn’t because of the town, Lydia.” He breathed against her skin, “This isn’t Beacon Hills. This is Gerard Argent. He's already tried eradicating the supernatural, he tried becoming the supernatural, and neither of those worked out for him. Stiles is his last shot, his Hail Mary. If he can’t kill us all, he wants to be able to <em> control </em>us, and he thinks Stiles is the answer.”</p><p>Lydia sighed, opening her eyes to look at Derek, “Which means Gerard needs him alive.” </p><p>Derek nodded, “Killing Stiles defeats the purpose. If Stiles is somewhere, drugged, under Gerard’s thumb, then he’s still alive. And if he’s alive, we can get him back.” Derek turned towards the door, “We <em> will </em> get him back.” </p><p>Derek heard Theo leave Stiles’ room, and a moment later, there was a knock at the guest-room door.</p><p>“I know you’re up.” Theo murmured.</p><p>“Come in.” Lydia said, wiping tears from her eyes. </p><p>The door cracked open, and Theo, with his hair a wreck and eyes bloodshot, entered the room, his gaze on Lydia. He paused for a long moment, dragging in a deep enough breath that his entire chest expanded and then relaxed. </p><p>“I know you probably still don’t trust me, but I have an idea.” </p><p>“What kind of idea?” Derek asked, warily.</p><p>“It’s a meditation exercise the Dread Doctors taught me.” Theo tucked his hands into the pocket of his sweats, “It’s supposed to help you learn to filter out certain sounds when you’re first turned, and to hone in on specific sounds, or a specific voice. I think it could also help with tracking; it’s worth a try.”</p><p>Lydia cocked her head to the side, eyebrows pulled together, “You want me to do this, don’t you?” </p><p>Theo nodded, “We <em> have </em> to find him. If not for my sake, then for Noah’s.” He looked briefly in the direction of the Sheriff’s room. “None of us have more to lose than he does. I know you both still don’t fully trust me - especially when it comes to Stiles - and I get that, but this isn’t about me. This is about finding him. Bringing him back, alive.”</p><p>Derek considered it, “This doesn’t sound dangerous. Why does she need to trust you?” </p><p>“Because I need to be in her head,” Theo answered, holding out a clawed hand. “I very much doubt that Gerard is letting Stiles talk, and I’d be willing to bet that nobody else is as capable of identifying Stiles’ heartbeat as I am.”</p><p>As much as he hated it, Derek had to concede the point. “Scott has to be there.”</p><p>Theo nodded his agreement and headed out the door, “We should do this soon. I’ll tell Scott to meet us at the school by the vault.”  </p><p>--</p><p>Lydia paced nervously as Derek unlocked the Hale vault. It was both central enough and secluded enough for whatever ritual she and Theo were about to perform. And although she wasn’t particularly happy about the idea of letting Theo <em> back </em> into her head, it gave them a chance to find Stiles, and at this point, they didn’t have any other options. </p><p>Derek and Theo headed down into the vault, and Lydia was about to step forward to follow when Scott stopped her. </p><p>She glanced back at him, “What is it?” </p><p>“You don’t have to do this.” Scott said, his voice quiet. “We can find some other way.” </p><p>“How?” Lydia asked, turning and holding up her hands in defeat. “We’ve searched every inch of this town, <em> twice.</em> We’ve looked everywhere Gerard could possibly have taken him. Who knows where he could be at this point? It’s not like there's a tracking device embedded in him. Maybe if he was a wolf, then Theo could track him down, but he’s not.” She swallowed hard, bringing her hand up to rest on Scott’s. “He’d do it for me.” She gave his hand a brief squeeze and then headed into the vault.</p><p>Theo was sitting against a wall, and when she finally entered, he waved for her to join him. She slid down along the wall, aware of the heat of the werewolf beside her.</p><p>Scott dropped to a seat across from Lydia, “Okay, so what do we have to do?” </p><p>“On Lydia’s end, she’ll need to rely on her banshee powers. All you have to do, Scott, is talk to her, guide her through the sounds, keep her focused and remind her what she’s looking for. Keep her calm and on track.” Theo turned to Lydia, “When we go in, I’m not going into your head.” He announced.</p><p>Lydia furrowed her eyebrows, “What? I thought you had to be listening?”</p><p>Theo shrugged one shoulder, staring at his hands, “Stiles would kill me if I did something like that.” He said softly, “If he considers using his thrall on you a violation, then me going into your head sure as hell is. I won’t do that.” He looked at Lydia with sincere grey eyes. She resisted the urge to gasp at the vulnerability she saw in them. “So I’ll pull you into my head. I’ll show you the heartbeat to listen for, and then it’s up to you to actually search for it.” </p><p>Lydia studied the former-Chimera; Theo was willing to literally open himself up, to be completely vulnerable, and risk letting Lydia <em> into his head </em> all in the name of finding Stiles. Maybe he really had changed. </p><p>She gave him a small smile, “We can do both.” She said softly.</p><p>Theo’s eyebrows pulled together, “Both?”</p><p>“You show me what to listen for, and then you help me search.” She remembered that the three men in the vault with her were werewolves, and hoped that she believed what she was about to say. “I trust that you’re doing this with the right intentions.”</p><p>Theo’s eyes widened slightly, but he nodded, “Okay.” He looked at Scott and Derek briefly as they focused their attention on the two of them, and then extended his claws and carefully brought his hand up to the back of Lydia’s neck. “You ready?”</p><p>“As I’ll ever be.” Lydia rolled her eyes, “But hey, this happens often enough to me, at least we’re just reopening old scars this time.”</p><p>Theo chuckled quietly, and then before Lydia had time to tense for the pain, he quickly sank his claws into her neck. </p><p>Being pulled into someone else’ mind was just as jarring and uncomfortable as she remembered from when Scott had dragged her into Stiles’ mind with him. </p><p>Lydia found herself standing in Stiles’ room in the early-morning hours. It was impossible to know the date, but she could see Stiles sleeping alone on his stomach all sprawled out on his bed. His hair was longer than she had seen it, so this must have been a more recent memory. As the moment progressed, she could hear the sound of his heartbeat become more noticeable, and she tried to focus on it, to commit it to memory.</p><p>The heartbeat started to change as Stiles stirred, and he rolled over onto his back, one hand reaching out to pat the bed next to him. A confused frown appeared on his face, and his eyes flicked to the doorway, where Lydia realized she was standing. Stiles’ heartbeat was slightly different now that he was awake, but still distinctive. </p><p>A small sleepy smile spread across his face, “Hey you.” He whispered. </p><p>“That enough?” Theo’s voice came out of nowhere, and shocked her into remembering that she wasn’t alone here. </p><p>Lydia turned to him and nodded, “I think so.” She continued to look and study him, and suddenly she felt like she was seeing Theo in a different light, like she was seeing <em> Stiles </em> in a different light. It was so obvious from right here, standing in this room, with the proof in front of her.</p><p>“You love him.” She whispered, awed at the realization.</p><p>Theo blinked at her, his eyes narrowing, “Everyone keeps saying that.” He rolled his eyes and then Lydia felt the uncomfortable tug of being directed back into her own head.</p><p>Lydia made a conscious effort to imagine the Sheriff’s office, with its map of Beacon County on the wall. When she opened her eyes, She and Theo stood on a giant version of the map. </p><p>“Nice.” Theo said with an impressed smirk.</p><p>“Not my first time.” Lydia grinned back.</p><p>Distantly, she could hear Scott’s voice. <em> Listen for Stiles, Lydia. Find him. He needs you to find him. </em></p><p>Closing her eyes, Lydia focused on <em> Listening</em>. (“You can try it the way I do it.” Stiles had said once, “Focus on the goal, believe in the goal, and push your will into what you’re doing.”) Carefully, she focused on the sound in her memory, that slightly-erratic heartbeat, the way it transitioned between sleeping and waking, the constant lulling Stiles-beat of it. </p><p>That was her goal. She had to focus. She had to believe she could find it, find <em> him</em>. </p><p>“We’re going to find it. You’re going to find him.” Theo murmured encouragingly from beside her, echoing the words inside her head. </p><p>Lydia frowned, “How-”</p><p>“I’m in your mind, remember?” Theo scoffed.<br/>
<br/>
She ignored him for the moment and went back to the task at hand. The goal was the heartbeat. The will was to find the heartbeat.</p><p>Scott’s words repeated in her mind: <em> Find him. He needs you to find him. </em></p><p>Everything around her became muffled. There were thousands of heartbeats in Beacon Hills. She kept listening, kept comparing, felt herself begin to walk as she searched through heartbeats. Faintly, she thought she heard the one that she was looking for, so she started to follow it. She moved out slowly in a circle, shifting farther away from the center of the map; she could hear it getting louder, so she continued forward toward that one specific heartbeat until she was sure it was the right one. </p><p>The beat was still mixed with other sounds, but when she was sure she was standing where it was loudest, she opened her eyes and glanced down at the map. </p><p>The space she was standing was blank. </p><p>“There’s nothing there,” She said, her heart sinking in her chest and tears welling in her eyes. </p><p>Abruptly, Theo pulled out of her mind and Lydia slammed back into the present. Both her and Theo were panting, and Scott and Derek were standing close and staring at them both with wide expectant eyes. </p><p>“There was nothing on the map where the sound was.” She said, her lip quivering, “I couldn’t find him.”</p><p>“But we did find <em> something</em>.” Theo said a beat later, rubbing his face with both of his hands, shaking his head. “Just because there’s nothing <em> on the map </em> doesn’t mean there’s nothing <em> there</em>.” He moved his hands and glanced between the three of them. “We should go look.”</p><p>“It could be a wild goose chase, it was a hundred miles from Beacon Hills.” Lydia said, reaching up to rub at the back of her neck.</p><p>“That would explain why we haven’t found him yet.” Theo insisted, dragging himself to his feet. “Let’s go. It can’t hurt to check.”</p><p>“We shouldn’t just go in half cocked. We need a plan.” Derek said.</p><p>“No, we need to get Stiles back.” Theo said, looking at Scott. “We have to try.” </p><p>Lydia watched as Scott studied Theo for a few moments before nodding, “I’ll call Malia and have her meet up with Chris and Peter. If we get there and find anything, we’ll call them for backup, but we should hold off on telling the Sheriff until we know more.” </p><p>“Okay then, I guess I’ll drive.” Derek said, rolling his eyes and reaching for Lydia, pulling her into the familiar comfort of his strong arms. “You okay?” He asked softly.</p><p>Lydia kept flashing back to the <em> softness </em> on Stiles’ face in Theo’s memory. The little twist of his lips and the fondness in his tone; it seemed <em> so </em> familiar. And when she looked at Derek’s concerned face, she could see the same softness in his eyes as he curled his warm hand around the back of her neck and drained away the residual pain.</p><p>“I’m fine.” She breathed, leaning into him and resting her forehead against his chin. “Let’s go.”</p><p>--</p><p>Lydia did her best to locate the spot on the map on a GPS, and then curled into the passenger seat of Derek’s SUV for the drive. Scott and Theo were exhausted in the backseat, but both seemed too nervous to sleep. Lydia knew what exhaustion looked like on Derek, and it was clear to her that he was getting a bit worse for the wear too. </p><p>A little over an hour outside of Beacon Hills, Derek stiffened beside her, and Lydia saw his hands grip the steering wheel harder. “Wait.” He breathed, his lips pressed into a firm line. “Wait, I know this road.” He murmured to himself as he glanced around, blinking rapidly.<br/>
<br/>
“Know it how?” Scott asked, resting his hand on the beta’s shoulder. Derek calmed slightly at the touch. </p><p>“There’s a cabin.” He announced, pulling off the side of the rural two-lane highway they’d been on. He grabbed his phone from the mount and flipped to the satellite view, panning around the area. “There.” He announced, holding the phone out so all three of them could see. </p><p>Vaguely, hidden beneath a heavy tree cover, was the chimney of a small cabin, about two miles from where they were. There were no real roads that lead to it, only some faintly-worn paths through the woods.</p><p>“How do you know about this place?” Theo asked, “Why didn’t you say something sooner?” </p><p>“I didn’t <em>remember</em>.” Derek snapped and glared at Theo. Lydia noticed the rough, familiar tone in his voice and the anguish present in his eyes that could really only mean one thing. “Kate brought me here.” Derek said with a heavy growl in his words. </p><p>Theo held up his hands in the closest thing Derek would get to an apology. “We should find somewhere to stash the car. And go on foot. They’ll be less likely to hear us coming.”</p><p>“Derek, you’re sure that Kate had a cabin? And somehow Chris didn’t know about it?” Scott asked, his own phone in his hand, hovering over the dial button. </p><p>“She only brought me here once.” Lydia watched as Derek’s face tightened in disgust as he explained, “We came here so we could have some <em> privacy</em>.” </p><p>Lydia reached over to cover Derek’s hand with her own, and he flipped his so their fingers laced together, squeezing just a bit too tight and giving her a grateful smile. Scott called Malia, relaying an edited version of the information to her, and sending her the coordinates to their location. They stashed the SUV in some trees just off the access road. </p><p>“It’s about a mile and a half if we cut straight through.” Derek said. “We need to watch for traps. Gerard probably didn’t think anyone would find them here, but he’s still an Argent.” </p><p>Theo led the charge into the trees, Scott at his back. Derek stayed close to Lydia, their hands together in silent comfort. She knew Derek had repressed a lot of his memories of his time with Kate, but they weren’t completely gone. Trauma didn’t disappear overnight, or even over the course of more than a decade, especially if that time was spent without any kind of professional intervention. Lydia never forgot that Derek had been used as a tool, a weapon against his entire family.<br/>
<br/>
She had to be careful not to allow him to be a weapon against himself either.</p><p>After ten minutes at Theo’s brutal pace, he stopped, “I think we’re in the right place.” </p><p>“Why-” Scott slammed head first into the ash line. “Oh.” He blinked a few times, a faint blush on his cheeks.</p><p>Lydia rolled her eyes and pushed past the werewolves to drag the toe of her boot through the line. “You’ve been a werewolf for over three years, Scott, get it together.” She winked as she continued walking. </p><p>She heard Scott mutter something about exhaustion but didn’t bother listening too closely. A few minutes later, Derek grabbed her abruptly and pulled her back. She turned to glare at him, but he pointed to the ground where a thin tripwire was barely exposed by the undergrowth. They all carefully stepped over it, and then watched their step as they moved closer. </p><p>“He’s here.” Theo whispered, hand rubbing at his chest. “I can feel him. I know he’s here.” </p><p>Lydia cocked her head, “I didn’t think werewolves could form mate bonds with non-wolves.”</p><p>“Depends on how human the person is.” Derek said, shrugging, “I wouldn't rule it out.” He looked pointedly at Theo, “Still not sure you love him?” </p><p>Theo growled and rolled his eyes, stalking a few yards further before coming to a stop. “There,” He pointed up ahead, and they could all see the corner of a cabin. </p><p>Carefully, they crept in a circle until they found the front of the small cabin. From the outside, it looked like your average vacation rental, a faux-log exterior, a chimney that was puffing the tiniest bit of smoke. Once they got close, all of the wolves could smell Stiles, and, unfortunately, Gerard.</p><p>“Six heartbeats.” Derek whispered, “One of them has to be Stiles.”</p><p>“One of them <em> is </em> Stiles.” Theo pressed, his foot tapping on the ground. “Let’s go get him.” </p><p>“Theo we can’t just rush right-” Scott heaved a sigh as the wolf charged forward, leaving Derek, Lydia and Scott to race after him.</p><p>Bursting through the front door of the house, they saw Stiles in the center of a rock salt circle, looking up at them with hazy brown eyes. His hands were bloody and red, his wrists worn raw from the shackles. His eyes had dark bags underneath them, deep bruises. His cheeks were sunken, and his lips chapped. </p><p>It looked like the Nogitsune all over again. Lydia’s heart caught in her throat. </p><p>“Well well, you certainly got here fast.” </p><p>Gerard’s voice dragged them all out of the shock of seeing Stiles like he was. Theo growled, but Scott clapped a hand on his shoulder. Derek tensed and moved so he was between the geriatric hunter and Lydia.</p><p>“Stiles has been quite a good boy.” Gerard crooned, stepping up to the edge of the salt circle, a gun clutched lazily in one hand. “He’s done exactly what he’s been told. Stand up for me, Stiles.” </p><p>It hurt to watch how much effort standing took, Stiles swaying slightly on his feet. Theo broke free of Scott’s grip, unable to contain himself any further, moving to steady Stiles, one shaky hand running through Stiles’ dirty hair. </p><p>“Ah, perfect.” Gerard said, and Lydia felt her heart begin to sink. Gerard was armed, he could have kept Theo from Stiles, he chose not to. </p><p>“It’s a trap.” She whispered, remembering the conversation with Peter and Theo from two days prior. </p><p>Nobody seemed to be paying attention to her. </p><p>Gerard’s grin was cold and evil. “Stiles, since you’ve got your favorite pet quite literally in hand, why don’t you go ahead and give him those orders we practiced?” </p><p>Stiles blinked a few times, his eyes landing, unfocused, on Theo’s face. Theo’s brows drew together in confusion. </p><p>“<b>Kill Scott.</b>” Stiles said, with his hands on Theo’s shoulders, and weak fingers brushing against his exposed collar. “<b>Kill the Alpha.</b>”</p><p>Theo’s eyes went impossibly wide as, presumably beyond his control, his body turned, and his face shifted as he faced down Scott. </p><p>Scott stared in horror, “Theo.” He flashed his eyes, and Lydia saw Derek’s head flinch back minutely, bearing his throat to the alpha. “Theo you don’t want to do this. You can fight this.” </p><p>Tears of frustration appeared in the corners of Theo’s eyes. “I can’t.” He said, and then immediately lunged for Scott, who dodged out of the way, trying to keep out of Theo’s reach, the two of them bowling over furniture. Gerard watched on with a smug grin.</p><p>Lydia, staggered back, towards the doorway, trying to stay out of the way as images flashed in her head, omens, dark and sinister, of death approaching. A burn in her throat went from simmering embers to a raging inferno and she opened her mouth to wail, to let the cool scream ease the burn. She was still confused, no one was dying; Scott had pinned Theo against the wall, the beta still struggling, actively trying to break his hold, and Derek was standing-</p><p>Suddenly, a resounding crack sounded in the room and Theo staggered and went limp in Scott’s grip, a loud pained whine escaping his throat. </p><p>Lydia’s eyes found Derek at the center of the salt circle, his face shocked white and frightened, breathing hard, and staring at his shaking hands. His shoulders were hunched and his head was hanging low as he stood there, with Stiles’ limp body lying motionless on the floor in front of him.</p><p>“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It was the only way.” </p><p>“What have you done?!” Gerard roared, his gun pointed at Derek. “You had no right to interfere <em> Hale</em>!” He spat Derek’s name like a curse.</p><p>Anger, simmering in Lydia, built slowly. She watched as Scott fell to his knees under Theo’s weight, the beta twisting around in Scott’s grip to stare at Stiles’ limp form with a look of utter devastation on his face. Scott’s face wasn’t much better. Tears pricked in Lydia’s eyes. </p><p>Derek turned to Gerard, eyes flashing dangerously blue. “<em>I </em> interfered? No, I stopped you from using <em> Stiles </em> as a pawn in your sick game. You’ve used enough people, Gerard.”</p><p>“Ah well, you’d know all about being used by an Argent, now wouldn’t you, Derek?” Gerard’s evil grin slid back onto his face and Lydia saw Derek flinch. “My daughter’s greatest mistake was not finishing the job when she had the chance.” </p><p>With that, the anger that was building hit its threshold. </p><p>“Shut up.” Lydia said, squaring her shoulders and stepping forward, “Just shut up, you disgusting pathetic old man.” Gerard turned to her slowly, an amused grin on his face that only stoked the flames of fury growing inside of her. </p><p>“Kate and Derek. The Hale Fire. Peter killing Laura. Peter biting Scott. Jackson. Deucalion. Erica. Boyd. <em> Your own damn granddaughter</em>.” Her eyes drifted to the figure on the floor. “Stiles.” She wiped tears away from her eyes with the back of her hand. “It’s always you. Everything we have <em> ever </em> had to deal with comes right back to you.” </p><p>“How does it feel to be a cog, Miss Martin? This is my world. My game. You’re right, you’ve all just been playing in it.” Gerard smirked. The other hunters exchanged nervous looks with each other. Lydia saw a flurry of motion out of the corner of her eyes but she ignored it.</p><p>The scream that had been burning in her throat before had felt wrong. It was something different; something darker, and angrier than before. It wasn’t her predicting a death, it was something else. This was a new kind of scream. This was her predicting a death she would cause. </p><p>The scream she felt before hadn’t been for Stiles. He wasn’t dead, not really, not permanently. He was a siren. It might take time, but without blood and bronze, he’d heal. She hoped Scott and Theo would realize that soon. She didn’t have time to tell them. </p><p>Right now, she had something much more important to take care of. A small wicked smile twisted at the corners of Lydia’s lips. </p><p>In the haze of her mind she saw them, all of them, everyone who had ever been killed because of Gerard Argent. The dead called to her, gave her strength, adding to her anger, and fueling her power. This man was the focal point of everything. He was the reason they’d had to fight to save everyone, the reason that they even knew about the supernatural, and that their friends had died. </p><p>That Derek had suffered for. </p><p>That <em> Allison </em> had died for. </p><p>Raising her shaking hands out in front of her, Lydia drew in a deep focused breath, and met Gerard’s smug gaze with her own confident sneer. </p><p>“Game over.” </p><p>And then she screamed.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p><b> Trigger Warning Details (SPOILERS):</b><br/><b>Non-Consensual drug use: </b>This is the same as the previous chapter, Gerard using drugs to coerce/use Stiles<br/><b>Character Death:</b> Please mind the tags. We fought long and hard with the decision to tag Temporary Character Death, but, well, I know a lot of people are sensitive to character death so, yeah, it's temporary.<br/><b>Graphic Depictions of Violence:</b> Well this is a werewolf show. Not much worse than canon related violence, but Lydia *literally* Screams Gerard's head into exploding, and Derek has to snap Stiles' neck. </p><p><b> Author Notes: </b><br/>tiniestawoo: Did we fulfill your gruesome/fitting end for Gerard wishes?</p><p>impractical-matters: This was another of my favorite chapters and I really hope you all enjoyed it as much as we did! Get ready for some fluffiness! </p><p>As always, come visit us on tumblr:<br/><a href="https://tiniestawoo.tumblr.com">tiniestawoo</a><br/><a href="https://impractical-matters.tumblr.com">impractical_matters</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Tested to Oblivion</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welcome back everyone!</p><p>A couple general content warnings for this chapter: mentions of Kate Argent and Derek's past abuse, and related drama/violence from the precious chapter. </p><p>Other than that this one is mild...well mostly...</p><p>Grab your tissues y'all! Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Vaguely, Theo was aware of losing control. </p><p>After Lydia’s scream tore through the air and ended Gerard Argent’s miserable life, he was aware of chasing down every last one of Gerard’s accomplices through the cabin and tearing them to pieces. He remembered Scott and Derek calming him down and telling him it was over, that they needed to go, and that Chris and Peter would be there soon to take care of cleaning up. But Theo could barely think or process anything they were saying. Everything was a blur, they were all covered in blood, the inside of the cabin looked like a bomb had gone off… and Stiles was… gone.</p><p>Gone. </p><p>
  <em> Gone. </em>
</p><p>Theo’s chest <em> ached</em>. The warm, pulsing feeling that had told him they were close, that Stiles was nearby, it had now shifted into a deep, dull painful throb. He felt cold and empty, and more alone than he ever had before. </p><p>The drive back to the Stilinski’s house was completely silent. Stiles’ limp form was stretched across the back seat, with his head cradled in Theo’s lap, and his feet in Scott’s. His eyes, dull brown and lifeless at the moment, were still open, staring up at the ceiling. At some point along the drive, Theo mustered the courage and reached down to gently close them.</p><p>Objectively, he knew that Stiles could still wake up. He knew that there was a chance this death wasn’t permanent. That didn’t make Derek’s painfully potent smell of guilt, or Scott and Lydia’s grief any less difficult to process. </p><p>For once in his life, Theo didn’t want to think, he didn’t want to process anything.</p><p>He just wanted Stiles back.</p><p>Derek dropped everyone off at the Stilinski’s house, and then he and Lydia drove away toward the loft. Theo didn’t care to question it, he couldn’t think about anything else while cradling Stiles’ limp form in his arms as he followed Scott to the door of the house. </p><p>Noah stood stock-still and stared as they came in, his face crumpling, “No.” His voice trembled, “God please no.” </p><p>“He could still wake up.” Scott said, and Theo could hear the thick emotion in the Alpha’s voice, trying to sound optimistic, “He’s not human anymore. He’s a siren. Derek just snapped his neck-”</p><p>“Derek did this?” Noah asked, turning from Scott to Theo. “How could he do this?” </p><p>“He had to.” Scott said, “He had to do it.” </p><p>“Why?” </p><p>Theo dragged in a breath, “If he didn’t, I was going to kill Scott. Or die trying.”</p><p>Noah stared at Theo for a long time, and it occurred to him after a few seconds that Noah was very likely staring at <em> Stiles </em>who was still in his arms, and not Theo himself. </p><p>“When will we know?” Noah finally said.</p><p>“Derek said to wait twenty-four hours before we report anything.” Scott breathed, “He wanted me to tell you that if Stiles doesn’t wake up in 24-hours, he’ll turn himself in, so you won't need to arrest him.” </p><p>They moved into the living room, and Theo headed for the stairs, clutching Stiles’ body close. He could hear Scott telling Noah the story of what happened earlier in the day, but he was too distracted to pay much attention. </p><p>He gently laid Stiles on the bed, with his head on his pillow and his hands folded on his stomach. Theo dropped down to sit on the edge of the bed, brushing away the greasy hair from Stiles’ face.</p><p>“We were supposed to get out of here.” Theo said softly, “We were leaving. You promised me a future, Stiles.” He felt hot tears in his eyes, “You have to come back.” </p><p>Theo breathed heavily, gripping Stiles’ limp hands in his and leaning down to rest his head against Stiles chest. “I need you to come back because I can’t see a future without you. I’m not… without you, I don’t even know who I am. Before you, I was evil. I was every bit the monster they painted me, the monster the Doctors made me into. Somewhere along the way you made me believe I could be better than that. You made me <em> want </em> to be better than that, do you get that? Fuck.” Theo could feel his tears staining Stiles’ dirty clothes, but he didn’t care. </p><p>“I love you,” He whispered. “I didn’t know I could. I didn’t know what love felt like, but I do <em> now</em>. Or at least, I know what it feels like to <em> lose </em> it.” </p><p>“It’s the worst feeling imaginable.” Theo jumped at the sudden intrusion, turning to see Noah in the doorway to the bedroom. “I hope for both our sakes that this <em>is</em> temporary.” Noah leaned heavily against the door frame. “I don’t know if I can do this again.”</p><p>Theo didn’t know what to say, so he just turned back to Stiles. </p><p>“For what it’s worth, I know he loves you.” Noah continued, “And you might have been a monster, but you <em> are </em> different now, Theo. And if this is permanent, he’d want you to have a future, even if it’s without him in it.” </p><p>“I don’t know how to be a good person without him,” Theo whispered.</p><p>“Sure you do.” Noah replied, “You’re smart enough to follow routines, even without Stiles to set them for you. I know my son. I know that the last thing he’d want is for you to give up just because he was gone.” </p><p>“But, <em> how </em> do I keep going?” </p><p>Noah shook his head, “I can’t answer that for you, son.” He murmured, “Every day’s a new fight, but you get up, and you find a reason to keep fighting. You find a way to keep holding on.” Tears welled in Noah’s eyes again, and that brought a new wave for Theo. “But I’ll promise you this. I won’t let you do it alone. Because if he’s gone, I’m gonna need another reason to fight too.” </p><p>Theo blinked the tears away to stare, confused, at Noah. “Okay.” He finally said, unsure of how to properly respond.</p><p>“I’ll leave you be. Just uh… if he wakes up, let me know.” Noah said then shifted out into the hall. </p><p>“Hey, Mr. Stilinski,” Theo called after a minute. Noah reappeared in the doorway. “Thank you.”</p><p>--</p><p>Derek was <em> fine</em>.</p><p>He turned off the engine and headed into the loft, vaguely aware of Lydia pulling her duffel out of the trunk and trailing after him. He could smell her salty tears mixed into the sharp, lingering scent of grief and confusion. She’d killed today, he reminded himself, the image ran through his mind; Gerard’s body had laid limp and motionless on the floor, a puddle of blood where his head once was. </p><p>That was probably his fault too. If he hadn’t killed Stiles, Lydia wouldn’t have snapped, wouldn’t have destroyed Gerard. The hunters that Theo killed too, those were his fault as well, they all knew Theo’s reaction was due to the sudden death of his mate.</p><p><em> Temporary </em> death. </p><p>Derek kept trying to remind himself that Stiles was a siren now. He was no longer just defenseless with fragile bones and sarcasm. He was no longer a too-brave boy in a world full of monsters. He was a siren, and sirens were notoriously difficult to kill, basically immortal. </p><p>It sure as hell would be Derek’s luck to somehow have killed one anyway. </p><p>The loft smelled like stale air and dust when he came in with Lydia following him, but Derek was too distracted by the recent events to care that the loft had sat empty and unoccupied. If he thought rationally, he really should sell it. </p><p>Today, though, was hardly a day for rationality.</p><p>A part of him, the shattered 16-year-old boy that held everything in, hid his emotions from the world, and pretended to be strong for Laura’s sake, that part had taken over his mind once again. It didn’t feel like nine years had passed, it felt like <em> yesterday </em> that he’d been responsible for his entire family burning to the ground. And once again he'd killed, and been the catalyst for others to do the same. </p><p>As soon as Lydia had dropped the duffel bag on the coffee table, Derek was on her. He pulled her to him, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and burying another in her hair, tugging her close and tilting his head down to capture her lips in a persistent kiss. Lydia made a muffled sound of surprise before relaxing into his grip and gently returning the kiss. </p><p>They both smelled like blood and sweat, like the forest and grief, but Derek didn’t care, he was determined to get as close to Lydia as he could. He was desperate to drown himself in the sensations of her and forget the plaguing events of the afternoon, forget the pain and suffering he was responsible for yet again.</p><p>Derek slid his hands down Lydia’s body, along her back and down to her hips, hands tracing the curves of her. He squatted slightly as he cupped his hands under her thighs and lifted, guiding her legs around his waist, supporting her weight without much effort in a smooth, practiced move. </p><p>He started heading towards the bed in the far corner, eager to get her there, to strip her out of the clothes and do what he could to give her whatever she wanted from him, and to lose himself in her.</p><p>“Stop.” She said abruptly, pulling away from the kiss, pressing the flat of her hands against his shoulders, unwinding her legs from his waist to drop to the ground. “We’re not doing this.”</p><p>Derek frowned and stared at her in confusion, but released his grip on her, “What?” </p><p>Lydia cocked her head to the side, “You know that I’m essentially the smartest person in this town, right? Maybe even the smartest person you’ve ever met.” She reached up to cup his cheek, running her thumb over his beard, “And it’s safe to say that I know you pretty well at this point?”</p><p>“And that means you don’t want to fuck me?” Derek asked, raising an eyebrow.<br/>
<br/>
“Not when I know you’re doing it as a distraction and to punish yourself.” Lydia said softly, her concerned eyes looking up at him. “Can you honestly tell me that’s not the case?” </p><p>Oh. </p><p>Her words struck him hard, and he knew she was right. </p><p>Everything came slamming into him at that moment. His head throbbed, his chest ached, and his eyes burned from the effort of holding back the emotions that had been threatening to break him all day. He stepped back out of Lydia’s reach, his mouth opening and closing multiple times as he desperately searched for something - anything - to say in response to that. </p><p>“I killed him.”</p><p>Lydia took a cautious step towards him, but Derek flinched away and stepped back. Undeterred, she moved toward him again, shaking her head and slowly reaching out for his hands. She gently held each of his hands in one of her own, and looked up at him with a stark sincerity burning in her eyes. “He’s going to wake up.”  </p><p> “What if he doesn’t?” Derek wanted to tear his hands out of her grasp, get away from her, keep her safe, safe from him. He shouldn’t be near her right now. “What if I actually just <em> killed Stiles</em>? How is Noah ever going to forgive me? How will anyone?”</p><p>“Listen to me. You did the only thing you could. Theo is <em> dangerous</em>. Under the thrall he could have killed Scott, and he probably would have. We all know he can’t resist Stiles anymore. You made a choice, Derek. You made the choice that Stiles would have made.” </p><p>Lydia kept her strong but delicate hands wrapped tightly around his. Her head barely came up to his chin, but despite her size, she looked powerful as she held him close and steadied him. Derek wanted to believe her.</p><p>“I wasn’t punishing myself.” Derek said, looking away, “I was just... trying to forget. To help you forget.” </p><p>“I told you, Der, I don’t care what you’ve done in the past. I’m not a distraction. Being with me should not be a punishment.” She squeezed gently at his wrists. “I only want you when you want me. Not when you want a distraction, or when you feel like you’re a bad person, or a monster. You’re not even the only one in this <em> apartment </em>that killed someone today.” The corners of her lips flicked up briefly. </p><p>Shit. Mark that down for more ways he’d fucked up today. </p><p>“Are you okay?” He asked,  “With... Gerard?”</p><p>Lydia shrugged, soft thumbs tracing over the delicate skin of his inner wrist. “It was the right thing to do. I don’t know how to explain it, not really, but I’ve <em> never </em> been more sure that someone deserved to die. I probably need therapy. Actually, we all need therapy.” She looked up at him, green eyes meeting his. “You gonna tell me what else is bothering you? I know it’s not just Stiles.”  </p><p>Derek sighed, letting his eyes fall closed, “Kate and I had sex in that cabin.” He whispered, trying to remember to breathe, to focus on Lydia’s soft comforting touch against his skin. “That’s where I told her about the tunnels.” </p><p>Lydia was silent for a few moments and then slid her hands up to Derek’s shoulders, “I know that this is very difficult for you to accept, but what Kate did to your family was <em> not your fault</em>. You were sixteen. You were still grieving for Paige. She was an adult. She <em> manipulated </em> you.”</p><p>“If it’s not my fault, then why does everyone around me die?” Derek felt the burn of tears as they slid down his cheeks, and he reached up to brush them away with the back of one of his hands. “My family, Laura, Erica, Boyd, <em> Stiles</em>.” </p><p>Lydia shook her head slowly, “You’ve got some extraordinarily bad luck, but it’s not <em> your fault</em>, okay? And for once, please just trust <em> me</em>, as the harbinger of death, when I tell you that Stiles is <em> not </em> gone. He’s going to wake up.”</p><p>“You screamed.”</p><p>“For Gerard. <em> Not </em> for Stiles.” Lydia pressed up on tiptoes to kiss Derek’s cheek. “Let’s go shower and we can order some dinner.” She murmured, tugging Derek towards the bathroom.</p><p>Derek swallowed down the urge to run, to push her away before she died too. “Okay.” He said instead, following her towards the bathroom.</p><p>--</p><p>After a shower and some takeout dinner, Lydia crawled into Derek’s bed, patting the spot next her. Exhausted, Derek let himself fall into bed beside her, resting his head on her thighs and focusing on the soft, careful motions of her hand on the bare skin of his back. </p><p>They were quiet for a long time, Lydia idly scrolling on her phone with one hand, and rubbing Derek’s back with the other. He was just about to drop off to sleep when she laughed, “Ironic that this was a year ago.” She tiled the phone towards him.</p><p>Derek gave a grunt of annoyance and forced himself to sit up and glance at her phone screen. On the screen was a picture, a Facebook memory from a year ago. The picture was deep in the preserve, a camping trip they’d decided on in the weeks before Scott, Malia, Derek and Lydia had left for their respective colleges. </p><p>In the photo, Stiles and Scott were sitting on a log, laughing, with Malia sitting on the ground in front of Scott, leaning back against the Alpha, one of Scott’s hands on her shoulder, and Theo standing behind Stiles, one hand draped down to brush against his shoulder. </p><p>Lydia was in a camp chair (that she’d made Derek carry for her, as her one condition to her attendance <em> camping</em>) beside the log. Derek wasn’t in the picture because he was the one who had taken it. Everyone was smiling, everyone looked impossibly younger in the picture than they had in the last few days. Malia’s smile was bright, Theo’s was almost-genuine, Lydia’s was painfully fond. Scott and Stiles had twin giant grins. It had almost been like everything was normal again.</p><p>Derek felt the unexpected prick of tears again in his eyes, “You promise he’s not really dead?” He said softly, staring into Lydia’s eyes.</p><p>Lydia cocked an eyebrow and pushed his head down so his ear was pressed against her chest. “Yes, I <em> promise you</em>, Stiles is not dead.” Her heartbeat was steady. She kissed his hair. “Now let’s get some sleep.”</p><p>--</p><p>Theo woke slowly, his eyes slightly crusty from tears he didn’t remember shedding, still wrapped around what had been a stiff, lifeless body. Theo could feel the cotton of the T-shirt Stiles had been wearing (had <em> died in</em>) clutched under his hand. The moonlight filtered in through the blinds, stripes of light and shadow fell across the two of them, dust illuminated in the air of the room that they shared. A glance at the clock told him it was just after 3am. </p><p>At some point, He’d fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion and grief, without his usual sleep aides of Stiles’ whispered, “<b>Go to sleep, Theo,</b>” or the rapid rhythmic beat of Stiles’ heart under his ear. </p><p>After Noah had left them, he’d crawled into bed next to Stiles and just stared. His chest had ached in a way he hadn’t been prepared to deal with, and he was <em> afraid</em>. </p><p>Afraid of a life without Stiles. Afraid of the inevitable punishment for his rampage against the other hunters. </p><p>For the first time ever, he’d been prepared to move forward with a life that he had created for himself, with Stiles beside him. Now, it felt like the floor had fallen out from under him. Even Noah’s promises lacked the power to ease the kind of pain he was dealing with. This was a pain he had never felt before, and one he very much never wanted to have to feel again. </p><p>As Theo became more aware of his surroundings, he realized that his hand was still clenched in Stiles’ filthy T-shirt, in the center of his chest, which was now <em> rising and falling</em>. Theo’s eyes flew back open, and he was greeted by Stiles’ warm brown eyes, illuminated in the moonlight, lips curved up into a small smile.</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>Theo pressed himself up, eyes jumping between Stiles’ eyes and his lips and his chest, his brain trying to process the fact that Stiles was alive. </p><p>He’d come back. He wasn’t gone, their future wasn’t over-</p><p>Stiles managed to cut that line of thought off with a brief, tender kiss. “Let’s freak out later. You need to tell me what happened.” Theo heard Stiles’ heart rate pick up.</p><p>“What’s the last thing you’re sure you remember?” Theo asked softly. </p><p>Stiles closed his eyes and said, “I think I told you to kill Scott.” The words were barely more than a whisper, and Stiles’ face was pinched, like it hurt him to say it.</p><p>“You did. But, I didn’t.” Theo said quickly. Stiles visibly relaxed, and his heart rate ticked back down to a more normal pace. “Derek killed you.” </p><p>Stiles’ eyes flew open at that. “Excuse me?” </p><p>“He snapped your neck. That ended the thrall so I didn’t have to kill Scott. But for the record, our wolves don’t give a fuck if you’re only <em> temporarily </em> dead.” Theo sighed. </p><p>“Okay, so, we should probably start our phone calls with Derek so he doesn’t add my ‘death’ to his already overflowing plate of guilt.” Stiles pushed himself up to a seat. “What else do I need to know?”</p><p>“Gerard’s dead.” </p><p>Stiles’ eyes went wide. “Was it…” His face fell, his tongue toying with his bottom lip as he studied Theo’s face, “Was it you?” </p><p>Theo shook his head, “No.” He glanced down at his hands. “No, it was Lydia.” </p><p>Stiles’ eyebrows tried to become one with his hairline at that answer. “So, you didn’t kill Scott, Derek killed me, Lydia killed Gerard... what else do I need to know?”</p><p>“I killed the rest of them.” Theo said, with a quirk of his lips. “Scott said after you woke up, the pack would discuss that. I sort of... lost it. I just lost myself to the wolf. I’ve never felt like that before, Stiles. It’s definitely not something that would have happened to a chimera.” </p><p>Stiles nodded slowly as he listened, drawing in a long deep breath, “I guess I should probably tell my dad I’m alive.” </p><p>Theo nodded, “He’d probably like that.” Theo leaned forward to kiss Stiles more firmly, one hand winding its way into Stiles’ hair. “And then we should probably shower, since we both kind of smell like death.” </p><p>“Only kind of?” Stiles chuckled against Theo’s lips. “How did you guys find me?” He asked quietly, pressing Theo back and sitting up, “Also, fuck I’m starving.” </p><p>“It’s a long story.” Theo said, kissing Stiles’ temple. “Go talk to your dad for a few minutes. I’ll go make you something quick to eat and then we can shower.” </p><p>“<b>Call Derek and Scott too</b>.” Stiles ordered as he rolled out of bed, winking at Theo.</p><p>Theo sighed in relief as the familiar thrall washed over him, his mind blanking pleasantly as he reached for his phone to complete his task.</p><p>--</p><p>An hour and a half later, the whole world had been reassured that Stiles was <em> not</em>, in fact, dead. </p><p>After Stiles had eaten, the pair of them had showered. Also, under thrall, Theo had changed the sheets on Stiles’ bed to remove the ones that smelled like death, and the Stilinski house had returned to its normal level of quiet. </p><p>But Theo couldn’t shake the sense of fear that this night was going to end with something terrible, that he was going to wake up and Stiles was still going to be in that house under Gerard’s control and that this, this rekindled chance at the future was going to have all been a sick dream.</p><p>“Do you love me?” Theo asked suddenly, pressing up onto an elbow so he could see Stiles’ face. “Everyone keeps saying that you do but you don’t... I mean you’ve never-”</p><p>“Yeah, I do.” Stiles said, his voice sure, his heartbeat steady. “I <em>do</em>. I haven’t said it because I know you’re not really used to terms of endearment or y’know, positive things happening in your life.” </p><p>Theo stared at Stiles for a few beats. “I love you too.” He decided. “I don’t… I think I have for a while. I just don’t think I knew what it felt like until you were gone.”</p><p>Stiles’ face lit up in a bright smile that made the vulnerability worth it. “You love me?” Stiles asked, his eyes sparkling. </p><p>Theo rolled his eyes, “We don’t need to make a big deal out of it, okay? It’s just-”</p><p>Stiles cut him off with a kiss, threading his hands into Theo’s damp hair. “It’s kind of a big deal.” He said. </p><p>Theo felt the familiar warm haze of the thrall as he shifted so he was straddling Stiles’ hips, rocking gently against him, leaning down to kiss Stiles more effectively as the Siren held him close. </p><p>“I’ve been dying for months to say it. I was just afraid that if I did say it, I was going to subconsciously want you to say it back so badly that I’d just make it happen. And I needed - <em> fuck </em> - to know that you were saying it because you actually meant it, and not just because I wanted to hear it.” </p><p>“Hey Stiles?” Theo murmured, his tongue heavy against the skin of Stiles’ neck as he shifted his hips to rock down and slid his own aching erection roughly along Stiles’. “You were a lot quieter when you were dead.” </p><p>Stiles laughed and stared up at him, “My dad’s home.” He said with a nervous sigh, “I’m not sure I’m capable of being quiet enough to not wake him up.” </p><p>“I’ll keep an ear out.” Theo promised, leaning close against Stiles’ lips, “Please fuck me.” He moaned. </p><p>He felt Stiles smirk against his lips before he spoke. “<b>Flip us</b><em>.” </em>Stiles whispered, and Theo did as he was told, planting a knee between the two of them and rolling so that Stiles was on top. </p><p>The Siren pressed a line of kisses along Theo’s neck and collarbone, twisting one of Theo’s nipples between a thumb and forefinger. Theo bit down hard into his bottom lip with enough force to draw blood. He could feel the want rushing through him; his wolf was desperate for him to be closer to Stiles, to feel him again, to be possessed by Stiles in every way possible. </p><p>“Fucking tease.” Theo breathed as Stiles continued to work his way down Theo’s body with kisses and bites, fingers running along the elastic of his boxers as the Siren glanced up with a wink. </p><p>“Listen, you love me.” Stiles said, grinning as he tugged Theo’s boxers down, freeing his hard cock from its confinement. “Which means this isn’t just sex, this is us <em> making love</em>.” Stiles smirked, his tongue darting out to quickly lick the bead of precome that had formed at Theo’s slit, before sucking the head of the cock into his mouth.</p><p>Theo bit back a groan, trying to keep quiet he dragged a pillow over his face only for Stiles to encourage him to remove it by whispering against his thigh, “<b>Be quiet, and don’t come ‘til I’m inside you</b>,” before returning all of his attention to Theo’s cock. </p><p>Theo kept his eyes fixed on Stiles’ face, watching him grip his dick and suck him down, thankful that the thrall would assist him in not coming prematurely. With everything building up, the affection he felt, the hot wet feel of Stiles’ mouth on him, and his wolf’s excitement that Stiles was alive and well, he really wasn’t sure he would be able to last without the order.</p><p>Theo almost cried when the silent order for him to retrieve the lube rang through him, and he shifted carefully to retrieve it, passing it down to Stiles, who finally pulled off Theo's cock, both of them breathing heavily. </p><p>“You’re so good for me, always so good, so perfect.” Stiles’ whispered praise continued as he popped the top of the lube and poured some onto his fingers, spreading Theo’s legs further apart on the bed. “I want to fuck you just like this, so I can tell you how fucking much I love you while I do it.” </p><p>The silent order to relax came through just before he felt Stiles’ finger breach him. Stiles’ face was delightfully focused on the task at hand, his bottom lip caught between his teeth as he quickly and efficiently worked one, two, then three fingers into Theo, the werewolf writhing on the bed beneath him with the effort to not come and keep quiet. </p><p>Thankfully, Stiles didn’t seem to want to waste any time once Theo was ready; he quickly slicked himself up and shifted so he could pull one of Theo’s legs over his shoulder. He was gentle but firm as he slid into the werewolf with minimal resistance, between the prep and the thrall, Theo was eager and ready. They both muffled a groan at the feeling and Theo threw an arm over his eyes as he pushed his head back against the pillows. Stiles leaned forward over him to bring their lips together, shifting deeper into Theo, and this time drawing a quiet pleased moan from both of them.</p><p>They didn’t fuck like this often. Obviously, they’d had a lot of sex, as one might expect from a teenage werewolf and a teenage siren. However it wasn’t usually so intimate like this, with Theo on his back staring up at Stiles, and Stiles holding the werewolf close, rocking his hips in short deep thrusts, eyes locked with his. They both had to make a conscious effort to be quiet, and it became rapidly clear that Stiles’ chosen method for this was to keep his lips and tongue occupied with Theo’s mouth.<br/>
<br/>
“I love you.” Stiles breathed against the werewolf’s lips, unable to stop his lips from forming a smile.</p><p>Theo smiled and whispered, “I love you.” He sighed, nosing along Stiles’ jaw, “And I’m really fucking glad you’re not dead.” </p><p>Stiles grinned as he continued rocking into him, slow and deep, “Yeah, I guess fucking a dead guy would be pretty weird.” </p><p>“Par for the course in this town.” Theo said, and whined quietly as Stiles shifted back, tilting Theo’s hips and began thrusting faster with renewed purpose, keeping Theo’s hands off of his own cock as Stiles aimed for his prostate. “You’re the worst.” </p><p>“I know you can come just like this, from just my cock inside of you.” Stiles purred, barely audible but Theo heard him, moaning low at the words. “I bet you can even do it without me telling you to. You can do that, can’t you baby?” </p><p>Stiles was right and they both knew it. Theo, still trying to stay quiet, let out a low pitched whine and nodded in agreement as he gripped Stiles hips tight. Theo used his strength to try and pull Stiles back quicker as he chased that burning pleasure he felt building low in his gut. Stiles grinned down at him, and relented by thrusting harder and faster into him, pushing Theo closer to the edge.  </p><p>It didn’t take long before Theo brought his hand up to cover his mouth, fangs sinking into the palm of his hand as he came between their slick sweaty bodies, his groan of Stiles’ name muffled by his hand as he gently rocked him through the aftermath. </p><p>Stiles smiled down at the blissful expression on his face and shifted Theo’s hips back down again so he wasn’t abusing his prostate. Stiles kept a firm grip on Theo’s thighs, and then picked up the speed and intensity of his thrusts once again as he chased his own release. It only took a short time before Stiles was pressing his face against Theo’s shoulder, and muffling his own sounds of release as he bit down hard enough to bruise as he came. Stiles’ eyes fluttered closed as the waves of euphoria washed over him, and he buried himself deep inside of Theo, leaving his mark and scent behind, claiming him.</p><p>Theo was already healing by the time Stiles finally pulled out, and cuddled up next to him on the bed, resting on his side and staring at the werewolf. “I love you.” Stiles whispered again, “Thank you for saving me.” </p><p>Theo took a few more deep breaths, before turning his head to catch Stiles’ lips in a long, slow kiss. “I love you too.” He murmured, “And thank<em> you </em> for saving <em> me</em>. Sorry that I might have wasted all of it.” </p><p>Stiles frowned and he brought his head close to Theo’s shoulder, nosing against the skin where the bite mark had already healed. “I’m not going to let anyone kill you.” He breathed, “Not today, and not <em> ever</em>, if I have anything to say about it.” </p><p>“You’d actually go against Scott, for me?” Theo asked, staring.</p><p>Stiles looked up at Theo, “Let’s just see what happens later.” He said, “<em>If </em> I have to stand up to Scott, then I will.”</p><p>They curled up into each other, Stiles’ wrapped up and pulled tight to Theo’s chest, more interested in basking in the closeness with each other than dealing with the mess they’d made of themselves. </p><p>They fell asleep together in the early morning just as the sun began to rise, with Theo clinging desperately onto Stiles, still afraid that he’d wake up and this would all have been a dream.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you all for reading! </p><p>tiniestawoo: That first part gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. I probably read it like 10 times before I was desensitized enough to not start sobbing while I did. </p><p>impractical_matters: Oh poor Theo and poor Derek...damn everyone really needs a hug in this chapter... I really hope you all enjoyed the happy reunion! </p><p>One more chapter and the epilogue!</p><p>As always, come see us on Tumblr!<br/><a href="https://tiniestawoo.tumblr.com">tiniestawoo</a><br/><a href="https://impractical-matters.tumblr.com">impractical_matters</a></p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. The Listening ear has Charmed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you all so much for reading! We are almost at the end everyone, just the epilogue after this! </p><p>There are no additional warnings for this one! </p><p>Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Resurrection was an odd experience. </p><p>Coming back to life for a second time (or was it a third time? Did splitting from the Nogitsune count as a resurrection?) in his relatively short life felt strange. He’d woken hungry and somehow exhausted despite the fact that all he’d done in the last 12 hours was <em> be dead</em>. It felt ridiculous, and Stiles made a mental note to discuss it with all the other people he knew who had died and came back. </p><p>Why did that list even exist? Oh right, fucking Beacon Hills that’s why.</p><p>His time with Gerard was fuzzy. He wasn’t really sure exactly what had happened during the roughly 48 hours that the mad hunter patriarch had a hold of him. He remembered the deep and painfully poignant ache that had been constantly racking through his body from not being able to use his thrall. He could only hope that meant Gerard had been unsuccessful in his plans to use him to destroy his enemies.</p><p>It had been a long time since he’d felt the need that powerfully. He hadn’t realized how thoroughly he and Theo had been satiating the hunger on a regular basis, not until it was taken away.  He remembered what it was like to feel that burning ache, to guard his mind and fight against it, force himself to remain silent to protect the people around him from his uncontrollable desires. It was an excruciating feeling that he had no intention of ever revisiting.  </p><p>None of the discomfort compared to remembering the sound of his own voice, a burst of <em> his </em> thrall ordering Theo to kill Scott. He had unwittingly pushed the message every way he could: with his voice, with his hands and with his thoughts. It was an unnerving feeling, and had almost instantly shifted the soft woozy dream-like haze of his kidnapping into something more sinister, into a nightmare. The look of fear on Scott’s face, and anguish on Theo’s had both been like knives to his gut.<br/>
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There was no way for Theo to resist Stiles anymore. Even if he had only used vocal thrall on him, the wolf wouldn’t have been able to resist. Theo had known when the words left Stiles’ mouth that the course of his life was about to change, and not for the better.</p><p>And then suddenly, there’d been a sharp burst of pain, and everything went black. There was no flashback, no visions of trees. There was no white room or gauze-wrapped monster. Just darkness, and that burning ache. He was hungry, in more ways than one, but there was nothing he could do. His body was trying desperately to heal itself but without any reserves to convert to energy, the recovery process was long and slow. </p><p>Twelve hours later, he’d woken up to Theo’s hand clenched in his shirt and his eyes crusted with tears, and his heart had ached in a way he hadn’t realized it could. He knew he had loved Theo for a long time. There were probably many different psychological theories out there that would explain the relationship that resulted from being in prolonged close proximity with someone you’re emotionally and physically dependent on, and the possibility of a romantic attachment developing. But Stiles knew this was <em> more </em> than that.</p><p>Stiles didn’t love Theo because he was attractive and funny, or even because he was sarcastic as hell just like him. It wasn’t because they had really good sex, or that Theo genuinely enjoyed being under his thrall. </p><p>He loved that Theo cared, so much more than he’d ever expected him to. He loved the way that Theo’s face softened when he thought no one was looking, the way that he clung to Stiles while they slept. He loved the way Theo’s lips felt against his, and the way he felt safe when they were curled up against each other. Stiles loved that out of hatred, out of desperation, and seemingly out of nowhere, something real and solid had grown between them. </p><p>Waking up later that morning, still naked, vaguely aware that they both still smelled like sweat and sex from the night prior, Stiles pulled the wolf close to him. Theo, who was still half asleep, pressed his face into the curve of Stiles’ neck and shoulder. Stiles kissed the top of his head and nuzzled his nose there against the soft hair. </p><p>“It wasn’t a dream.” Theo murmured against Stiles’ skin, and Stiles felt his mouth spread into a grin before his lips pressed soft kisses along the curve of Stiles’ shoulder. </p><p>“Dream of me often, do you?” Stiles teased, earning himself a bite from the wolf, “Ow.” </p><p>“You’re such a baby.” Theo pressed up onto one arm, glancing down at Stiles with heavily lidded grey eyes, his lips curled into one of the softest grins he’d ever knowingly let Stiles see. “I feel disgusting.”</p><p>“I mean, you’re the one who decided to go to sleep without showering first.” Stiles winked and leaned up to peck a kiss against Theo’s lips. “But also, you’re lying, you love it. It’s a weird wolf thing.” </p><p>Theo playfully narrowed his eyes and pushed up to a seat, the sheets pooling around his hips as he stared at Stiles, fingers running along Stiles’ chest, eyes roving like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.</p><p>“I’m really here.” Stiles breathed, “Really alive. You can go shower, I’ll still be here when you’re done.” </p><p>“Come with me.” Theo whined, reaching for one of Stiles’ nipples, only to have his hand batted away.</p><p>“I’m gonna go make breakfast.” Stiles said, rolling out of bed and away from the wolf, “And we don’t have enough time. Scott texted me, there’s a pack meeting at 1:30 at his house. To discuss yesterday…” He bent to pull a pair of sweats from a dresser drawer. </p><p>Theo sucked in a long breath. “Okay.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t regret it.” He looked up at Stiles. “They <em> took </em> you. I don’t regret killing them and I won’t say I’m sorry that I did.” </p><p>Stiles turned around, crossing his arms over his bare chest and studying Theo for long enough that the wolf started to squirm under his scrutiny. “I would have done the same if it had been you,” He said finally.</p><p>He meant it. If the doctors ever re-emerged, or anyone came looking for Theo, he didn’t doubt that he’d do anything within his power to keep Theo safe. And if someone did manage to take Theo, Stiles couldn’t promise anyone, including Scott, that he wouldn’t cut down everyone in his path to get him back.</p><p>Stiles stepped back to the bed, leaning down to cup one of his hands against Theo’s jaw, running his thumb over the stubble there. “I love you.” He said, leaning down to kiss the werewolf. “<b>Now quit overthinking and go shower.</b>”</p><p>Theo sighed and moved to get out of the bed, stopping only briefly at the door, “I love you too.” He said, his lips tilted into a smile. </p><p>Stiles didn’t think he would ever get tired of hearing him say that. </p><p>--</p><p>Stiles and Theo sat in the jeep for a while outside the McCall house. Stiles watched the numbers on his phone tick closer and closer to the time they were supposed to be there for the pack meeting, and Theo was uncharacteristically silent in the passenger seat. He was hunched over, both elbows resting on his thighs, his head in his hands.</p><p>“We should go in.” Stiles said finally, at 1:29 pm. Everyone else had arrived, Derek and Lydia a few minutes ago, and from what Stiles could tell the rest of the pack, including his father, were already inside.<br/>
<br/>
“Y’know, I think I’m more afraid for this meeting than I was for the first one.” Theo turned to Stiles, “I killed four people yesterday, Stiles.” </p><p>Stiles reached over, grabbing one of the former-chimera’s hands in both of his. “<b>Breathe</b>.” He said, and Theo inhaled deeply, eyes going soft. “We don’t know what’s going to happen, okay? Let’s just go inside.” He leaned across the console to kiss Theo, “I meant what I said. I would have done the same thing in your position,” He whispered, smiling.</p><p>“I hope Scott sees it that way.” Theo replied, the words hanging heavy in the silence between them.</p><p>They climbed out of the jeep and headed inside, Theo hurrying past the crowd that stopped to greet the newly resurrected Stiles. As Scott, Lydia and the rest of the pack headed back into the living room to take their places for the meeting, Stiles grabbed Derek’s shoulder to stop the Beta from his hasty retreat. </p><p>“Hey.” Stiles said, awkwardly. How did you thank someone for killing you? </p><p>“Hey.” Derek replied, his face pinched, “I’m sorry.” He said quickly, “I’m so sorry.”</p><p>“No, don’t be.” Stiles shook his head quickly, “You saved everyone, Scott, Lydia and probably Theo. You kept <em> all </em> of them from being killed. I literally cannot thank you enough.” </p><p>Derek stared, his eyes wide and confused, “You could have died, permanently.”</p><p>“Well, I guess it just didn’t take this time. I’m not sure what my resurrection count is now, but regardless,” Stiles grinned and shrugged one shoulder, “Even if I had, if you’d saved Scott, Lydia  and Theo, it would have been worth it to me, okay?” </p><p>Stiles hesitantly pulled Derek into a hug, and after a moment, the Beta reciprocated, gripping Stiles in a near-painfully tight embrace. It brought a smile to Stiles’ face where it was pressed into his shoulder.</p><p>So much had changed in the last three years. For better or worse, none of them were the same people they’d been even when the Nogitsune took Stiles for the first time. Derek was a beta who had been an alpha. Scott was an alpha who had never killed for his power. Lydia was an even more badass banshee. Theo had gone from the first chimera, to the king of the chimeras, to just your average werewolf. And Stiles was a nearly-invincible siren.</p><p>They were all so close to freedom, so close to getting a life that wasn’t tied to Beacon Hills and the bullshit of the Nemeton. Derek and Lydia were free, Scott and Malia were free, it was his and Theo’s turn. Stiles wasn’t going to let anyone - least of all Gerard - take that away from them.</p><p>He didn’t care that Theo had killed four men. Those four men had been instrumental in Gerard’s plan to <em> use </em> Stiles to <em> kill </em> Scott. It had been years since Theo had intentionally hurt anyone, and Stiles refused to let all of the change he’d seen in the werewolf go to waste because of irrationally driven decisions resulting from a sudden moment of great traumatic suffering.</p><p>Derek and Stiles wandered into the living room, Derek taking a seat on the sofa next to where Lydia sat with Malia. Stiles caught Theo’s eye where he stood against the wall across the room, giving him a small smile before taking the chair next to Scott.</p><p>As usual, the puppies sat on the floor, as the only new piece of furniture, a loveseat, was occupied by Melissa and Noah, and Chris and Peter stood just behind it, both of them leaning against the wall. </p><p>The atmosphere was night-and-day from the pack meeting that started all of this over a year ago, where Stiles’ status as a siren and Theo’s place in the pack had been established. Peter was no longer an enemy, Theo was no longer a threat, and Stiles had gone from beloved brother to pressing threat and back again.</p><p>Scott turned to Stiles and gave a brief nod before he turned back to the rest of the pack. “I want to thank everyone for the work we put in searching for Stiles over the last few days.” Scott reached over to grip Stiles’ shoulder. Stiles watched Scott’s face shift, his grin dimming, “Stiles had been kidnapped by Gerard Argent and four hunters, and, we believe, drugged.”</p><p>“Definitely drugged, like <em> all </em>the drugs.” Stiles said with a sarcastic huff.</p><p>Scott grimaced slightly, but continued, “We’re all here both to welcome Stiles back, and because yesterday, members of the pack were responsible for multiple deaths.”</p><p>“Well technically I came back to life, so I don’t count.” Stiles interjected, winking at Derek, who just glared back at him.</p><p>“Do I need to worry about deniability?” Noah asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.<br/>
<br/>
“Oh, don’t worry, they weren’t even in your county.” Peter toward the Sheriff and grinned, “And even if they were, if <em> anyone </em> found evidence of what happened I’d be very surprised.” </p><p>“We took care of it.” Chris said, rolling his eyes at the werewolf. Noah rolled his eyes as well, but relaxed and turned back to face Scott.</p><p>“Thanks for that.” Scott said, though he also didn’t seem amused, “In the course of rescuing Stiles, Lydia killed Gerard.” Scott announced, and there was a small gasp from the younger pack members. “And Theo killed the four hunters who assisted him with kidnapping and containing Stiles. It’s no secret that, when possible, I’d rather not see my pack take lives, but I’m starting to see that not all circumstances can be that black and white.”</p><p>He glanced at Lydia, “Gerard had plenty of chances to change his ways, and he refused to do so. From what you’ve told me, the death was somewhat beyond your control. Do you have any regrets?” </p><p>“None.” Lydia said, her eyes sure. “I would do it again. It was a justified death.” Her eyes flicked to Chris, who just held up a hand. “For you, Scott, for Stiles, for Derek, for Allison.” Her voice faltered on the last name. “We’ve all suffered because of him. If you don’t want me in your pack because of what I’ve done, I understand, but Gerard Argent was in no way a good man.”</p><p>Scott nodded and looked slowly around the room. Nobody seemed particularly distressed by the news. “Does anyone have objections to Lydia staying in the pack?” When silence rang through the room, Scott turned to Stiles.</p><p>Stiles huffed a laugh, “If it had been up to me he’d have been dead a long time ago.” Stiles patted Scott’s shoulder, “Personally, I think Lydia did the world a service.” </p><p>“Okay, then.” Scott said, and then his eyes flicked across the room to Theo. “Theo was told January of last year that the stipulation of him not being imprisoned was that he wasn’t allowed to kill.” Scott licked his lips, “I know that he’s got a checkered past, but he’s been an asset to the pack recently, and so, for that reason, his death is off the table.” Scott looked pointedly at Chris.</p><p>Stiles let out an apparently-audible sigh of relief, as most of the room turned to him. He looked back at them, “What, did you all expect me to be in favor of <em> killing </em>my <em>boyfriend</em>?”</p><p>“You would have been a year ago.” Theo snarked, but Stiles caught the amused twitch of his lips. Theo’s emotional signature was an interesting mix of fond and anxious.</p><p>“Oh will you <b>shut up</b>.” Stiles winked, and while his words were a clear use of thrall, the silent tendril of thrall he sent Theo’s way was to relax, and to trust that Stiles would do what he had to to protect him. The wolf’s response was subtle, but Stiles knew what to look for as the rising tension ebbed out of him.</p><p>Everyone in the room seemed surprised when it was Derek who spoke next, all eyes flicking to him. “If you’re not holding Lydia accountable for her actions, Theo can’t be held accountable for his either.” Derek swallowed, “To keep Theo from killing Scott, I had to kill Stiles.” He paused for a moment, and the room was deadly silent. “Theo’s wolf didn’t <em> care </em> that Stiles wasn’t permanently dead. As far as the wolf knew, his mate was dead, and those men were directly responsible for the circumstances that lead to it.” Derek licked his lips and turned around to look at Theo, “I think anyone in his position would have done the same.”</p><p>“How are you sure there was a mate bond?” Liam asked, eyebrows pulled together, “Are those even real?” </p><p>“They’re real.” Peter said, his face shockingly vulnerable. “And powerful.” </p><p>“I could feel him.” Theo answered, quietly, from the back wall, “When we got close, I could feel Stiles. It’s like…” One of Theo’s hands came up to rub at the center of his chest, “Like a warmth in your chest, a tug. And when he died… I snapped.” </p><p>“I wish my chest-pit-feeling thing was warm.” Stiles grumbled, “Mine just makes me want to eat people.” The pack laughed.</p><p>The room fell silent after, for a long moment, and then Scott nodded and asked “Does anyone have any objections to Theo staying in the pack?” </p><p>When no one spoke up, Scott finally sat back and relaxed, exhaling hard through his nose. </p><p>Stiles turned to him, “Thank you.” He said, smiling across the room at Theo, whose relief was evident on his normally stoic face.</p><p>--</p><p>With Theo’s place in the pack secure, the next few days were a rush of reorganizing missed appointments and packing up Stiles and Theo so they could <em> finally </em> get out of this stupid town. The pack all chipped in, loading what little they were bringing -- boxes of books and suitcases of clothes -- into the two vehicles they were taking.</p><p>As their friends waited outside to give them some semblance of privacy after days of constant company, Stiles and Theo stood in the kitchen, one of Theo’s arms slung around Stiles’ hips, both of them smiling at Noah. The Sheriff studied them with eyes more misty than he perhaps would have admitted to. </p><p>“You sure you two are going to be okay?”</p><p>Stiles nodded and smiled at his dad, “Gerard’s gone. I think I’m safe.” He turned to press an affectionate kiss to Theo’s temple, “It’s just this town. We should be asking you if you’re going to be okay.” </p><p>Noah chuckled, “We’re gonna be just fine, kiddo.” He glanced around conspiratorially, “I think Mel’s talking about moving in so we don’t have to live alone. Empty nest hasn’t been suiting her, even with Chris’ uh... visits.” </p><p>Stiles laughed, and held up both of his hands, “TMI, Dad. As long as you’re happy, and safe.” </p><p>Noah’s eyes were fond as they flicked to Theo, “You take care of yourself too, you hear me.” He gave a soft smile, “I know Scott forgave you for what you did, but I want you to know that even I don’t blame you. They took Stiles. I know what I would have done -- hell, what I have done -- to people who try to take my son from me.”</p><p>Theo gave a brief nod, “Thank you.” He said, quietly but genuinely. </p><p>Stiles wriggled out of Theo’s grasp, moving forward to wrap his dad in a tight hug. “I’ll call you when we get settled.” He stepped back but didn’t break contact, “I’m gonna miss you.”</p><p>Noah’s eyes began to water again, “I’m gonna miss you too, kid.” He squeezed Stiles’ shoulder, “Get out of here, before you catch that legendary Bay area traffic.” </p><p>The pair of them headed outside where Scott, Malia, Lydia and Derek were chatting quietly. As soon as Stiles appeared, Scott turned to him, “Dude… our parents.” </p><p>Stiles laughed, “Our parents, and apparently your mom and Chris?”</p><p>“I thought Chris was sleeping with Peter.” Lydia said, turning to Malia.</p><p>Malia held up both of her hands, “I don’t ask. I don’t want to know. They smell like each other a lot.”</p><p>They all laughed, and then the moment lapsed into silence. Lydia turned to Stiles for a long time before surging forward, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face against his shoulder. Stiles brought his arms down to hold her close, nuzzling against her hair. </p><p>“I’m so glad you’re getting out.” Lydia breathed, “I’m so glad we’re <em> all </em>getting out.” She pulled back from Stiles’ chest to look at Theo pointedly. </p><p>“Well, we would be, if people would stop clinging to me like a barnacle.” Stiles pressed a quick kiss to the side of Lydia’s head. “We’re all gonna end up hanging out anyway, right?” </p><p>“Totally.” Scott said, grinning. </p><p>“We should get going.” Theo said, his face neutral, but even he was unable to keep the excitement out of his expression. “We’re already two days late on moving into our apartment.”<br/>
<br/>
The others dispersed with promises of seeing each other soon, and with a quiet ‘thank you’ whispered between Theo and Derek that Stiles pretended not to hear. The born wolf’s support had been unexpected, but likely invaluable when it came to explaining Theo’s actions towards Gerard’s hunters. Stiles couldn’t help but wonder if it was a guilty conscience for killing Stiles, or if Derek had really meant what he’d said.</p><p>Theo glanced at Stiles, “You have the address?”</p><p>Stiles rolled his eyes, “For the fifteenth time, yes. I thought I was the one with anxiety?” Stiles tugged Theo close, kissing him softly on the lips, keeping him close for just a moment, “I’ll see you at home?” He asked, grinning. </p><p>Theo beamed at that and nodded, “See you at home.” He headed for his own truck.</p><p>Stiles climbed into the Jeep and took a deep breath, glancing into the rear view mirror towards the house he’d grown up in. He started the Jeep, and couldn’t ignore how free he felt as he drove away from the house, and the town that had tried so hard to kill him.</p><p>It felt like they had <em> finally </em> won. </p><p>--</p><p>Stiles didn’t have a lot of experience with apartments, but theirs seemed nice enough. It wasn’t the luxurious three bedroom, two bathroom, penthouse monstrosity that Lydia and Derek shared near Stanford, but it had a bedroom, a reasonably sized bathroom, two parking spaces, and more than enough room for the two of them. They had hardly seen their neighbors, and Theo had intentionally chosen a newer building; hoping for some semblance of soundproofing.</p><p>It’s location, however, near the University and in the middle of a bustling metropolitan area, made for an overwhelming place to live to say the least.  </p><p>In Beacon Hills, psychic signatures had become background noise; there were only so many of them, and even fewer people were supernaturals of any kind. Stiles could <em> feel </em> human psyches, but they were quieter than supernaturals. A place like Oakland was vastly different. He rapidly understood why someone like Nefeli would choose to live on a barrier island away from most of humanity.</p><p>Slowly, it faded into its own kind of headache-inducing background noise. A natural born siren, those that chose to deal with humanity at all, learned to deal with this level of constant information overload from a young age. Stiles had been a siren for less than three years. He usually didn’t mind it, but days when the world was loud did a number on his own emotional state. </p><p>He’d never asked for this. Those days, when he realized he was potentially <em> immortal </em> and going to have to deal with this for god knows how much longer it became… a lot to handle.</p><p>Theo helped more than anything; as a willing anchor for his thrall, a single target to focus his mind on, a single set of emotions to deal with to help him block out the rest. Stiles suspected the bond they shared because Theo was a werewolf who saw Stiles as his mate was likely a contributor as well. To some extent, Theo acted as an insulator. Stiles knew they didn’t experience a mate bond the way two wolves would, but his ability to read Theo even down to fine details made it clear that there was some kind of connection between them. </p><p>He should probably ask Derek to look into that.</p><p>By the time classes began in the fall, Stiles mostly had a handle on things. Theo’s EMT program had started a few days sooner. It turned out that a largely supernatural existence prepared you well for courses on basic risk assessment and scene security. Theo complained of boredom, but Stiles knew him better than that. He couldn’t hide his emotions, and his joy at finally doing something he’d chosen for himself.</p><p>It was a dream come true to be learning again, even as Stiles idly listened to a psychology professor go through his syllabus and expectations for the semester, doing his best to ignore the sea of minds around him. If he hadn’t been deliberately shutting out the world around him, he might have picked up the so-familiar psyche that waited for him just outside the building. </p><p>The UC Berkeley Psychology Department was housed in a large, multi-story, mostly-glass building. If Stiles had been more careful with his scheduling, he might have been able to arrange it so that he could spend entire days in the building. But as it was, he had to resort to switching between introductory psychology courses, introductory legal courses, and general studies, which meant that he’d be moving around a lot since the Legal Studies classes were housed on nearly the opposite side of campus.</p><p>He was already dreading the amount of back-and-forth he’d be dealing with all semester.</p><p>He had offhandedly mentioned that morning that if Theo got sick of studying, since he only had classes three days a week, he could come visit Stiles between classes. The real desire for Theo to help push back the roar of minds wasn’t missed by either of them.</p><p>Stepping out into the mid-morning sunshine, Stiles grinned when he caught sight of Theo, leaning against one of the small trees scrolling on his phone. After a moment of Stiles getting to stare, the werewolf looked up to catch Stiles’ gaze and headed towards him.</p><p>The grin slid off of Stiles’ face when a tall smiling stranger, broad-shouldered and blond appeared out of nowhere and stepped into Theo’s path, “I’ve never seen you around here before. Are you a freshman?”</p><p>Stiles could <em> feel </em> the annoyance coming off Theo. “No. I don’t go here-”</p><p>“Well, if you’re considering it, I’d be happy to show you around campus. We could grab a coffee. There’s a great shop nearby.” Stiles rolled his eyes at the stranger, but hesitated, curious to see how Theo would handle it. “I’m Riley.”</p><p>“I’m meeting someone.” Stiles heard Theo say, “So thanks, but no thanks.” Theo came back into view, rolling his eyes before finally making it to Stiles. </p><p>“Making friends already?” Stiles said, throwing an arm around Theo’s shoulders and kissing his temple.</p><p>Theo let out a huff, “I know that people find me attractive but he’s the third person to approach me since I got here.”</p><p>“Are you really going to complain about unwanted attention to me?”</p><p>“Yeah, well, at least you have a supernatural excuse for it.”</p><p>“So do you.” Stiles offered, shrugging, “ You’re <em> supernaturally </em>attractive.” </p><p>Theo narrowed his eyes, “Was that supposed to be a compliment?”</p><p>“Yes.” Stiles replied, chuckling to himself. </p><p>“I just want everyone to leave me alone.” Theo grumbled.</p><p>“Everyone?” Stiles challenged, grinning. Theo growled playfully and leaned up to press a long kiss to Stiles lips. </p><p>“Everyone <em> except </em> you.” Theo said. “I don’t even care if they stare. I’m just really not interested. How was class?” </p><p>“It was good. Just first day stuff.” Stiles answered noncommittally as they headed away from the psychology building to begin the long trek to the other side of campus. </p><p>As they walked on, they passed the blond that had approached Theo, and Stiles couldn’t resist glaring daggers at the guy and with a mischievous gaze, Stiles sent out a small tendril of silent thrall toward the human. A moment later, the young man very deliberately tripped over the edge of a planter, landing face first in the dirt.</p><p>Theo glanced up at Stiles, smirking. “Am I supposed to believe he’s just that clumsy?” </p><p>Stiles shrugged one shoulder and glanced at his boyfriend, “Believe what you want.” He said, kissing Theo again, both arms wrapping around his shoulders. “I didn’t say a word.” </p><p>Theo cocked an eyebrow but laughed, “We both know you don’t need to anymore.” </p><p>“But they don’t.” Stiles grinned, waving a hand around him to indicate everyone else. “I won’t tell them if you don’t.” </p><p>Theo shook his head and kissed Stiles again, unable to keep the grin off his face, “I love you.” </p><p>“I love you too.” </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Just the epilogue now! Thank you all for reading!</p><p>As always, come see us on Tumblr!<br/><a href="https://tiniestawoo.tumblr.com">tiniestawoo</a><br/><a href="https://impractical-matters.tumblr.com">impractical_matters</a></p><p>EDIT 6/27/20: (tiniest) Brief format change. Much like we had a separate Prologue, we're going to post the Epilogue separately too, so keep an eye out for that to go up soon!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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